Give and Take

by I Thought I Was Toast

Chapter 4

“Rarity...” Rarity snapped out of her daze, but Luna didn’t really know how to continue. If, somewhere deep inside, any scrap of kindness remained in Rarity, the princess of the night would have to be as crafty and charming as her mad captor to bring it out. Unfortunately, this meant playing along and listening to Rarity’s story. It also meant controlling her emotions, which was something she was not very good at.

“Rarity, my dear, you claim that you are somepony pure and rightous, but all of your actions this night don’t suggest that. What have you done in my absence? Why do the common ponies in the street adore you?”

Rarity looked at the princess, batting her eyes. “Darling, I have done everything. Charities, fundraisers, reform policies, and peace treaties, I have done them all. Over the years I’ve made sure that every foal receives an education. College has become mandatory, and the government pays for any who lack the funds. Health insurance is provided as a government service, and any and all freeloaders to the system are weeded out by a strict set of regulations that prevent abuse of my gifts to society. I am personally responsible for the financial caring of over one thousand orphans scattered throughout kingdoms we’ve warred with in the chaos following Celestia’s death, and I’m also behind most of the peace settlements.”

Rarity paused waiting for an apparently expected prompt from Luna to continue. It seemed her captor knew what she was trying to do. The mad mare had expected this to come up, and it was infuriating that, even in resisting, she was doing what the manipulative witch wanted. Luna inclined her head for what she knew the rest of Rarity’s answer would be, although it was more of a violent twitch from her frustration. She was off to a poor start of beating the witch at her own game.

“Of course, that was only what I let the public see of me. Not even counting that I was the one who murdered Celestia, I started most of those wars. The few I didn’t start I had predicted would happen merely as aftereffects of other actions I made, so I guess, in a way, I started them all. Darling, I am responsible for making griffins an endangered species. I turned the Diamond Dogs into self-eating savages, and I almost wiped out the dragons. Luckily, I planned well enough to preserve them, and find a way to integrate them into society. Where Equestria had tiny borders before, we now stretch all around the world. My gift was for more than Equestria. My gift was for the whole world. For my plan to unfold, I needed the whole world to be united as one so that they might hate me as one. I was careful though. All the horrible things I’ve done to the world I’ve always done through others. More than one noble house has already fallen from me giving them advice that only twisted their actions to my own ends. Of all the tiny gifts I give to further my plans, the ability to give somepony an idea will always be one of the most deadly. But I digress. Maybe I’ll go into details later, but right now I must continue my story. I only have so much time after all.” Rarity looked over at the goddess she had dared to hold captive and smiled.

“Oh, by the way, I’m glad you’ve finally decided to enjoy the tea.”

It took all of Luna’s self control not to do a spit take. It seemed she had gotten distracted from Rarity’s speech, and started drinking her tea. The mistress of the night tried to keep her fuming rage inside, but it was hard to stay calm when she was supposed to be beating herself up for being stupid enough to willingly drink more of that cursed tea. Rarity just grinned slyly, before continuing her story.

…..

The second part of my plan was to make sure none of my friends interfered with the conflict I had created. If they somehow managed to cool the conflict I had created, my plan would be for naught. In fact, if my plan was to work, I had to make sure they made it worse. I needed to generate enough chaos to draw Celestia to Ponyville, and, if there was one thing I learned from when Celestia had last intervened in Ponyville affairs, Twilight Sparkle knew how to make chaos when properly stressed.

Twilight was also currently overloaded with work. I believe I mentioned the extra assignments that were punishment for her little assistant’s fire. Of course, that had really been my fault for egging him on as he tried to impress me, but Spike wasn’t going to tell Twilight that.

All it would take is a little spark to ignite the chaos within. The spark in this case was three innocent little fillies that had a tendency to almost burn the town down looking for their Cutie Marks. Since Applejack and Rainbow Dash were fighting, I was the only pony left who actively controlled the little scamps. The town felt it was our responsibility because we were their role models, and I was going to use that to my full advantage.

All I had to do was feed them a ridiculous story on dragon slaying, and they were off to the only place in town where there was an actual dragon. I don’t think they honestly expected they could become dragon slayers, but they were young and imaginative. It was rather adorable watching them scamper all about in their antics sometimes, but I doubted Twilight would be in the mood that day. Actually, as you probably figured, I was counting on it.

They would trash the treehouse, Twilight would snap, and then they’d dash into the hills, probably chasing a still terrified Spike. I was actually counting on that too for the plan, although I couldn’t control where they’d run. I was going to need Spike and Sweetie Belle in the years to come, so I made sure the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Spike were well outside of town when I made my move.

As for Twilight, I believe she ended up trying to hypnotize the whole town into slaves who would help her finish her work. I can’t be sure, because I was avoiding her like the plague to avoid be ensnared by whatever she was doing, but I passed a number of zoned out ponies who were acting like those zombies Spike always carried on about as I continued to implement my plan. By now things were in full swing, and Rainbow was probably headed over to Pinkie’s after her fight with Applejack. This was where I thought the biggest chance of failure would occur. That darn pink mare was just too unpredictable.

…..

“So you had a heart after all,” whispered Luna.

“I beg your pardon, dear. What ever would give you that idea?” Was that a flicker of fear in Rarity’s eyes? It made sense. Rarity was driven by her hatred from what Luna could see. She hated the ignorance she saw in society, and she hated the nobility for their corruption. The most powerful drive she had, however, was her own self-loathing. She had convinced herself she was the thing she hated most, and any sign of decency was a sign that she could have done something else. If the princess of the night was to make something out of this encounter, she would have to use that to her advantage.

“You saved them. You said you needed Spike and Sweetie Belle, but you saved all the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Why would you do that? There was no need for you to save somepony who had no use to you.” It wasn’t much, but a single bead of sweat betrayed Rarity’s thoughts.

Luna smiled before continuing. “I’ll tell you why. It’s because deep down you cared for Sweetie. Twilight Sparkle’s letters made it very clear that your sister cared deeply for those two other fillies. You saved those two other ponies, because, in the chaos that was to follow, you wanted her to be able to find some measure of happiness.”

Rarity flinched for the briefest of seconds. It was almost imperceptible, but it was there. Luna knew she had scored a hit, and she giggled madly on the inside at her triumph. She still had to maintain her outward control, but there was something immensely satisfying with having affected her captor in such a way. The idea that this shrewd, logical, creature before her couldn’t picture every event that would happen was nice. So far everything had happened according to Rarity’s design. Throughout this whole conversation Rarity had been humoring her. The ivory idol had expected each and every turn the conversation would take, but she hadn’t expected that last comment.

“Rarity, you know there were other paths you could have taken. You could have relied on your friends, instead of stabbing them in the dark. I understand your goals, but why did you choose this path? Why did you choose a path filled with so much destruction and chaos?”

Rarity stared past Luna into the distance. She was quiet for a very long time before answering, and when she did it was almost a whisper. “I did it because I was jealous. I wanted all the power that high society ponies had. My friends knew more than I how deep my ambitions to succeed were. If I had told them of my hatred for the nobility they would have laughed. I would have been nothing but a hypocrite to them, and they’d be right. Even if they had understood, what could I have done? Any waves I would make to change the world would be tainted by my own hypocrisy. They might make a splash, but there would be no resounding change. It wasn’t until after my experience with Prince Blueblood that I began to see the true face of high society, and I only began to learn how that seemed to apply to every noble pony after that week I met Fancypants. Fancypants had been the only one to care for my friends. The others had merely followed suit, and put on plaster faces that somehow managed to fool my friends. That was when I saw how the common pony was ignorant to it all. I choose my path because it was the one I needed to choose. I would never be able to deal with my jealousy of high society unless I entered it in such a way that I could do nothing but loath what it had done to me, and I would never be able to change the world for the better unless I got the influence I needed to do so. My own inner evils are exactly what prevented me from helping the proper way, so I decided to use my own flaws to my advantage. I decided I’d embrace them and become a giant twisted sacrificial pyre. Does that answer your question, Luna?”

Luna was silent. She really didn’t know what to say again. What could she say to somepony who was so devoted to a cause that they would willingly do anything to achieve it? It was almost touching, but nothing could excuse the evils her captor had committed. What Rarity had done was wrong, right?

Author's note: I love villains that have a cause. You always end up questioning why they go to such extremes, and it makes you wonder where the line should be drawn when trying to change the world. The same goes for villains who like to watch the world burn, like Discord, but that's when you question the other end of the spectrum. How can society survive when someone is capable of such evil? It's villains like that that either bring out the good in people, or crush their hopes for society. It's like they end up flipping a coin to decide who you really are, except I like to believe that the chances of someone surviving such a toss is better than 50-50.

I'm a little sad I already got a dislike, but I admit my style is different than most. At least that's what I think. The only reason I bring it up is because if I make a mistake in my logic the entire mood of the story will be ruined. This story is driven by Rarity's cold use of logic to predict her friends, so a single mistake in either her friends reactions, or Rarity's own step by step plan, ruins the entire feel of the story. If I make a mistake in the logical progression, please tell me. Of course I'm going to ask you logically back your argument up, but that's because I need to see how I'm wrong so I can edit the plan accordingly. Anyways, that's enough of my insecure ramblings. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Comments

[Rarityshy]

Sir or Madam, you're correct your writing style is very different. I, for one, love it. I can't wait to see the end of Rarity's plan and if Luna can influence her in some way.
Wonderful chapter darling; ciao