Give and Take

by I Thought I Was Toast

Chapter 3

“You’re saying you murdered my sister and the entire population of Ponyville to make the world a better place.” Luna glared at Rarity coldly.

“Yes.” Rarity’s response was calm and collected.

“You’re saying that you’ve spent your whole life becoming the very thing you hate, so that you can rid the world of an evil that only you’ve seen.” The drug seemed to be wearing off. Maybe, if she didn’t move, she’d catch Rarity by surprise.

“Yes.” She was humoring her. For some reason Rarity found all of Luna’s questions amusing, and that was infuriating Luna to no end. She was going to enjoy crushing Rarity’s neck.

“You’re saying a world full of chaos and turmoil is better than the peaceful land my sister and I ruled.” It was almost time. Luna tensed her muscles.

“Yes, and no. You still don’t understand the goal of it all, darling.”

“That’s because it doesn’t make any sense, darling.” Luna put as much venom as she could into Rarity’s little pet phrase. She could actually move her legs now, even if it was much too slowly.

“But that’s just it, darling. It does make sense. You don’t see it yet, but you will. I’ve planned this too perfectly to be wrong on such a trivial manner. By the way, I suggest not moving your leg next time. It gives yourself away. It’s too bad, since you would have caught me unawares then. Nopony has ever recovered that fast before, but I suppose that comes with the territory of being an immortal god. I do hope you went to the bathroom before you came, because it appears you’re going to need a lot of tea to make it through the night. Anyways, I’ll just pour you some more tea, and then I’ll continue my story.

…..

As I predicted, Rainbow Dash flew into a panic, and shot off for the only friend she’d think to confide in. Twilight was too much of an egghead to her, Fluttershy would be much too timid to talk about such a subject, Pinkie was out since she was the cause of the problem, and Rainbow thought I would overreact like it was gossip. That left only Applejack.

Applejack was normally a very considerate pony, but, as with everything else, I’d planned things so Rainbow would be coming at a very stressful time. Applebuck season was in full blast, and Big Macintosh had mysteriously gone ill again. In truth, I had given him an anonymous gift that may or may not have been one of Pinkie’s baked bads. Over the years, I’d find that they were a marvelous way to incapacitate my foes for several days while I furthered my goals.

Anyways, the point is, Applejack was currently very overworked, and very agitated. None of us were able to help her that year because Twilight had extra reports for the princess as punishment for a certain dragon making a fire in an attempt to show off for me, Rainbow had extra weather duties from a friend of mine in Cloudsdale who had heard of Rainbow’s skills from me, Pinkie had been roped into helping bake all the treats for Sugarcube Corner’s Nightmare Night Extraveganza from a particular comment I made to the Cakes, and Fluttershy was currently caring for several animals that were caught in a flood I may or may not have caused by telling the Cutie Mark Crusaders to try dam repair. I myself had politely made an excuse not to help because, obviously, it was part of the plan.

Normally she would have understood our excuses, but , needless to say, two weeks straight of bucking apples alone had left Applejack strained, tired, and very cloudy headed. She became frustrated with us as the fatigue left her unable to think straight. The sheer agony that came from being overworked, not to mention the blow to her pride from failing to keep up the pace she needed, had made her start to question us. It made her wonder if we’d abandoned her. Of course it was all in her head, but she was too exhausted to see that. When Rainbow showed up not to help her, but to take some of the precious time she had left to buck her apples, she snapped.

I’m not very sure of the particulars of the fight, because I wasn’t there. There were other pieces of the plan I had to fulfill. I wish I’d been there to witness it. Not because I wanted them to fight, but because back then I still had the ability to care. Who knows, maybe if I had seen it with my own eyes things would have been different. Maybe if I’d been there I could have stopped it all. Oh well, it’s too late now. The only thing left to do is make sure their deaths weren’t in vain.

…..

Luna looked at her captor very carefully. There had been an echo of the Rarity she had known in the end of that flashback. Perhaps, given enough time, she could appeal to the pony she once knew. “Do you feel regret for what you’ve done?”

Rarity looked at Luna with such vehemence that the princess of the night actually flinched away for a second. “Of course I feel regret, darling.” This time it was Rarity using the venom. “I may be evil, but I am far from heartless. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of what I did. I will pay for my crimes. I made sure of that. Besides, my plan would never work if I didn’t pay for them myself in the end. I told you that my goal was to enlighten the common pony, yet I leave them ignorant of my crimes. I told you of my hatred for the nobility, and yet I act as if I am one. Do you not see why I do these things?”

“No, Rarity, I don’t,” whispered Luna, “It doesn’t make sense, and it never should. No pony should walk a path like you've chosen.”

“I knew you’d say that,” scoffed Rarity, “That is why you are the final piece of the puzzle. You will forever hate me for what I’ve done. Even if you come to understand me, you will never approve of my actions, and that’s exactly what I need. When I die you will make sure nothing like this ever happens again. You will sing of my crimes to the people and they will come to hate me. It’s brilliant. Don’t you see? To have a noble pony so perfect and pure as myself become reviled by the public is just what I need. Finally, the common pony will wake up from their naive little world to try to think for themselves. Finally, they will see that absolute power corrupts absolutely, and that power should be shared and divided among all, so that its abuse might be diluted. And you, my dear princess, will be the one to guide them down this path.”

Rarity looked towards the sky with a sly smile on her face, while Luna felt a conflicting rumble of pity and hatred for her mad captor in her stomach. It made sense, in a really twisted sort of way. She didn’t want it to make sense, but it did.

Still looking into the distance, Rarity began to murmur to herself. “If you really want to win a game of chess, the best thing you can do is simply to play as the other team. Rise through the ranks and champion their cause, only to stab them in the back. I may have played as the black queen in this little game of darkness, but I was always a pawn of the light. Maybe, by the end of the story, you’ll actually understand. I’d never ask for forgiveness, but I’d like for you to understand. Maybe one day...”

Author's Note: This was going to be my submission for Equestria Daily's NaPoWriMo, but I don't think I'll be able to get to 50,000 words by the end... It's gonna go for a while, but I'm not sure I can believably make a 50,000 word conversation, because all this is is one big conversation. At least it's fun to write. I've always enjoyed speculating how a story will progress and that's exactly what this is. As I write it I need to logically figure out each and every step the Elements would take, and how to counter any reaction that might screw Rarity's plan up until only Rarity's desired route of action is left. Here's to hoping my logic is sound.

Comments

[Pegasister1209]

I buckin' love this story. It is amazing.