Chapter 16
“We made it!” Rarity laughed victoriously, though she was really only able to chuckle between painful coughs. If Fluttershy’s imprint had been expecting them to pass the ‘test’ at all, then she definitely hadn’t been expecting them to come rocketing through the finish line on a trail of exploding ‘pop boulders.’ Thus, the door that was very much closed had been smashed to pieces when they came flying into the room beyond, almost smashing THEM to pieces in the process.
Even as the remains of plant-tissue withered and died, though, countless vines sprung up from the floor to the ceiling where the old door had just been. They interlocked and joined together, finally merging into two solid masses of pulsing veins and squishy, leafy flesh.
“I think there’s a problem with my bazooka,” Surprise muttered to herself as she got up off the ground. The gun in question was nowhere to be found, seemingly having disappeared the moment Rarity looked away. “It didn’t have nearly as much kick as it did the last time I used it.”
“What the—” Megan gasped as she too got up, looking around the room in incredulity. Her computer must have healed whatever bashing damage she’d taken. Firefly would be healed too, then, but Rarity hadn’t been so fortunate. Her back ached, and that cough didn’t feel like it wanted to go away anytime soon. The Birthday Bash Bazooka may have shielded them all from its blasts, but not from anything else. And Surprise had been closest to the gun, meaning Rarity and the others had taken the brunt of the impact. “Where’d that giant gun go?! Where did it even come from?! That’s impossible for ponies; only humans can form and un-form objects!”
“Clearly humans have never met Surprise,” Rarity chuckled, still coughing. And oh, was that blood? Wait, blood?! Nothing to worry about—okay, it wasn’t exactly something to not worry about, but they had passed the ‘test,’ and that was the important thing. Now they would be freed, and in the meantime, Rarity could heal herself with a gimmick. She levitated one of her saddlebags around to do just that, rifling around inside it.
“Clearly,” Megan agreed, giving the white pegasus an odd and slightly uneasy look. Then, turning to Rarity, the human concernedly inquired “Wait, are you okay? I only wish my computer was configured for equine biology as well, so I could heal your wounds...”
“I’ll be alright,” the white unicorn assured. “I just need to find something useful to patch myself up—‘bubble-wrap bandages?’ I suppose that would be as good as anything else in here…”
“Oh, you poor thing!”
Everypony and human in the room jumped at the soft voice. Their heads jerked around in search of the source, but the room was completely devoid of anything. Just more of the squishy green flesh on all walls, ceiling, and floor. Some more of the glowing fruits hung down from overhead, but there was no flower-speaker that the voice of Fluttershy’s imprint could have been emanating from.
Rarity looked around with confusion and fear. She knew that they had passed the ‘test’ fair and square. She also knew from experience that ‘fair’ and ‘square’ were usually foreign concepts in The ULE.
Her eyes scanned the room a final time, still not seeing anything—there! What was that?
A small horizontal slit ran along the far wall near the bottom, and when it opened again, the gentle voice of the monster spoke “Let me fix you right up!”
More vines shot out of the walls, floor, and ceiling, each wrapping around the group and lifting them into the air. The living ropes then drew taught, holding each of their bodies tight enough to prevent much movement no matter how hard they struggled.
“Don’t worry, Rarity!” the talking wall assured. Just then the white unicorn stopped her struggling, though this had absolutely nothing to do with the words Fluttershy’s imprint may think were comforting. No, Rarity stopped struggling when two other horizontal slits higher up from the mockery of a mouth opened up, revealing two enormous egg-shaped milky white saucers. Floating in the middle of these liquid orbs were pools of darkness rimmed with blue. “You’ll be as good as new in no time! You’ll be better than new! You’ll be PERFECT!"
“WHAT?!” Rarity shrieked, half out of pain as the vines stretched her battered and bruised body. “But we passed your ridiculous, horrid test! That means you have to let us go free!”
“You got to the end, yes,” the mouth agreed. “But you didn’t pass. There were places where you struggled. You almost gave up right at the beginning!”
“But I DIDN’T give up!” Rarity retorted with a mix of rage and agony. “And stop hurting me! Stop hurting us! Stop hurting everypony! You’re nothing but a monster!”
“I’m sorry you feel that way.” Fluttershy’s imprint sounded genuinely hurt. “But maybe you’ll see things my way when you’re more like me.”
“NO!” Firefly shouted, her eyes panicked, her body flailing furiously. “I’m already turning into ONE other pony! I will NOT be turning into TWO!”
“Oh, you won’t be turning into me!” the imprint with Fluttershy’s voice giggled. “You’ll be turning into yourself, only better.”
“But I’m not myself anymore!” Firefly protested.
“Now, let’s see… Which parts of the test could you have done better on?” the imprint mused, ignoring Firefly’s retort as the things that Rarity supposed were meant to be eyes turned back on her. The cyan pegasus was still thrashing with all her might against the vines, but even more of the green ropes simply slithered around their compatriots to strengthen their hold. “You had a little trouble seeing some of the threats for what they really were, but I can fix that. You also depended heavily on your friends. I don’t think you would have been able to make it as far as you did without them, but they might not always be there for you… Though, what if they were? Yes, that’s it! I’ll give you an infinite supply of friends! Oh, I’m going to make you so perfect, Rarity!”
“NO YOU’RE NOT!” Rarity roared, telekinetically ripping her saddlebags out from under the grip of the vines. Countless gimmicks leapt out, each encased in a blue glow, as she searched furiously for anything that could get them down. Unfortunately, ‘strobe light streamers’ and ‘perceptive party hats’ didn’t look as if they would be the most useful items at the moment. She couldn’t have used up all the advantageous gimmicks already, could she?!
“I’m sorry, Rarity,” the massive mockery of a face apologized as more vines shot out of the room to snag the gimmicks and pull them out of Rarity’s magical grasp. The green ropes stuck fast to the saddlebags as well, yanking them away. Not even her weapons harness necklace was spared, snatched away by a leafy tentacle. “But I can’t let you interrupt the perfection. This is for your own good. You’ll thank me one day.”
“My Disk!” the white unicorn gasped, her magic lashing out to pull out the precious magical recording device. “Wait a minute…”
The Disk suddenly began to spin in her telekinetic hold before the magic thrust it through the air, slicing through the vines. The room shook a little as the voice of Fluttershy’s imprint cried out in pain.
Rarity dropped to the floor, galloping over to her still-retreating saddlebags and cutting them loose with another swipe of the Disk. Catching the bags once more in her magical grasp, she rifled through them with a ferocious speed. Having so many gimmicks was nice, but having so few useful gimmicks, at least near the surface of a bag that was far larger on the inside, was not. Wait, was that…
A ‘pop rock!’ Rarity ripped the savory explosive out of the wrapper. No matter how big the explosive power of such a small candy, though, it would do nothing to Fluttershy’s imprint in the long run. Hopefully that wouldn’t matter, at least being just destructive enough to give the group time to get free and somehow find a way out of this living horror. It was a lot of hope to pin on a single ‘pop rock…’
But did it really need to be just one?
Just because there weren’t any more of the miniature bombs at the top of the bags didn’t mean there weren’t more at the bottom, or that there weren’t scores of other useful gimmicks just out of reach. There was no time to get to them all, but a tiny sun would be just the thing to spark their activation. Exploding may have only been the primary function of ‘pop rocks,’ but such potent destructive magic incinerating who knew how many other intensely powerful gimmicks would surely create a catastrophic effect.
But before the white unicorn could act on this theory, more vines laced themselves around her and strung her back up in a painful stretch.
“Ouch, Rarity!” the soft voice of the monster gasped. “That wasn’t very nice, especially when I’m only trying to help you!”
The bags had been dragged to a far corner, where the vines seemed content to leave them for the moment. Rarity, however, had a different location in mind. Using all her might, she telekinetically wrenched the bags away from the vines before too many could latch onto them, like they had when they first took the bags away. Lifting the saddlebags into the air, she spit on the still-levitating ‘pop rock’ and zoomed it over to be shoved down the bag.
“Rarity, what are you—” Fluttershy’s imprint tried to say, only to have her words devolve into choking gargles as the saddlebags were magically thrust into her throat and pushed down it. The white unicorn could feel the tree trying to hack the bags back up, but she refused to give up until the tree at last swallowed the bags whole. After a few rather disturbing coughs that hacked up what looked like tree sap mixed with blood, Fluttershy’s imprint managed to wheeze “What was that for? No matter, I’m rerouting it to the tree’s recycling plant. Don’t worry, whatever that was won’t hurt me or anypony else once it gets there. I should take you there just to see it after your perfection; you’d never imagine how beautiful an internal lake of hyperactive stomach acids can be!”
Rarity felt like the monster was about to see just how beautiful her own stomach acids could be when hurled into the false face, but whatever bile was brought up was gulped down again in cold fear as a vine sporting a rather new appearance sprang up from the ground. Unlike the others, which were just prehensile plant stalks, this thing looked more like the sword-tipped vines of The Hall of Life. Unlike those poison-filled stingers, though, this monstrosity’s pulsating veins rushed with a dark fluid that Rarity somehow instinctually feared was much worse than poison.
“We’ll start with Rarity first,” Fluttershy’s imprint announced. “Not that the rest of you won’t get your turn, of course! It’s just that she’ll be the easiest to perfect. I’ve never worked with a two-leg before, and that rainbow technology armor will take some time to take off before any perfection can start with you, Miss Rainbow Dash lookalike. As for the Pinkie Pie’s Party Supplies’ representative, I’ll have to give the matter of your perfection some thought.”
No! Why wasn’t her plan working?! The horde of ‘pop rocks’ and the magic of who-knew-how-many destroyed gimmicks should be wreaking havoc right now!
“And let’s not forget to remove this little distraction,” Fluttershy’s imprint chided as vines struck out to wrench the Disk from its enveloping blue aura. “Wait, is this one of the Disks? Like the kind the real Fluttershy left you?”
“Yes!” Rarity answered. “Now give it back!”
‘And die, while you’re at it!’ she thought bitterly. ‘Why isn’t some part of the monster exploding? Surely that much magic must have done SOMETHING by now!’
“Well, I don’t want to take something one of your original friends left you, so I’ll just lay it right here,” the imprint promised as she laid the magical recording device below the white unicorn. A few tiny vines snagged onto it lest Rarity lash out and use the Disk as a weapon again, but at least it wasn’t being taken away. She could still get to it if she could just find a way out of these other vines first! “Now, let’s move on to my favorite part!”
Before Rarity could ignite her horn, before she could so much as widen her eyes in horror, the spiked vine jabbed forward and pierced deep into her chest.
The white unicorn screamed.
She could feel the dark liquid forcing itself into her bloodstream, rushing through and contaminating what felt like every cell of her body all at once. Her eyes rolled back in her head even as the veins within them bulged and darkened with the flow of the black ooze.
“Rarity!” Megan and Firefly both shrieked.
“MARSHMALLOW!” Surprise shouted. Her eyes narrowed as they turned on the false face of Fluttershy’s imprint. “No fair! I wanted to go first! Oh, well. You’ll pay for not awarding me the first turn when Marshy’s plan finally pays off.”
“What are you talking about?” the imprint inquired as Rarity’s mouth began to gurgle and dark liquid started to dribble out. Every vein in her skin looked like it was full to bursting, each vessel pulsating just as much as those on the vine and darkening with the organic sludge running through them.
“What Marshy didn’t know when she fed you her supply of gimmicks is that the saddlebags are enchanted to not allow a gimmick’s activation within them,” Surprise explained. “That way they don’t all go off in a catastrophic chain reaction, which is unfortunately exactly what Marshy wanted them to do. But the saddlebags will dissolve when they hit your recycling plant, and every gimmick that used to be in them will activate when they are exposed to the magic in your hyperactive digestive juices in three… two… one…”
“I’m afraid I still don’t under—” the monster tried to say before a lurching shake racked the room. One of the imitation eyes fell out and splattered on the floor, the empty socket behind it bleeding a river of more of that bloody tree sap. The other eye simply slumped and deadened, losing any semblance of functionality. As this happened, a decidedly un-equine scream of pain echoed throughout the room from what sounded to be very, very far beyond the walls.
The spiked vine still injecting Rarity withered and crumbled into brown dust mixed with more of the black ooze that hadn’t made it into the white unicorn’s body.
The vines holding up the group died and crumbled as well, dropping them into the sticky red pool below.
Rarity screamed as she splashed down in the gunk, the searing pain of the tree’s internal fluids scalding against the pierce in her chest. She flailed about in utter agony before violently coughing up some mixed liquid of her own and forcing her shaking frame to stand up.
“Rarity!” Megan gasped as she leapt into the air and hovered quickly over to the stricken pony. “Are you alright?! There has to be some way we can get that stuff out of you—”
“Not unless we can get out of this nightmare factory first,” Rarity managed to wheeze between coughs. Every vein in her body felt like a rushing river, and her chest throbbed around the pierce. She sat in the muck so she could get a good look at the wound, gasping as her eyes met it. The hole had already closed over. The scabbed tissue was dark like the fluid and ran out in warped root-like structures across the white unicorn’s chest. The pain lessened by the moment even as her body began to feel more energized than it had in ages. That frightened Rarity most of all. “And fast! That monster won’t stay down for long!”
“But how do we get out?!” Firefly questioned frantically. “The only door in this room leads back through The Hall of Life, and that’s closed!”
“We don’t need a door,” Rarity announced, looking up to the giant empty eye socket. The others’ faces took on suitable expressions. Rarity wasn’t feeling too keen on their only apparent exit either, but she’d already hacked up all the internal fluids she could today. Telekinetically ripping the Disk from its leafy prison on the floor and slipping it in Surprise’s saddlebags, the white unicorn leapt onto the remains of the fallen eye and then climbed up into the eye socket.
Using her magic to help her hooves dig into the fleshy walls of the upwards-rising tunnel beyond where the giant eye had once gazed, Rarity tried as hard as she could not to let herself think about what she was doing, much less what had been done and might still be being done to her. When the tunnel had finally leveled out, she allowed herself a brief moment to curl up and shiver with disgust. She would NEVER be clean again. She just knew it. She only hoped that whether she did or didn’t, she would at least still be herself when the feelings came.
And wait… what was that?
Contrasting quite heavily with the dark, glistening red of the rest of the hallway was a small patch of purple sheen. Rarity telekinetically lifted the object and brought it close to her face, squinting in the darkness. Though the thing was drenched in the sappy blood of the hallway, the dark lavender clump of hair was all too familiar.
“No…” Rarity whispered to herself, panic rising in her voice. She shakily stood up and turned her head to see her tail, which she swished to the side to better observe. Sure enough, a small yet noticeable piece was missing. It hadn’t been cut from the rest of the hair, it had simply fallen out, most likely right when she had scurried up into the filthy passageway.
Firefly interrupted Rarity’s thoughts as she zoomed past the white unicorn, skidding to a halt and sending crinkles of blood-soaked tissue squelching up into wrinkles that she hastily jumped up and away from. Surprise followed, as did Megan, each of whom remained hovering just as Firefly desperately looked like she wished she had done. Rarity shook herself and forced herself to get back up, following her friends down the dank corridor. Firefly took the lead, her rainbow technology armor producing a multicolored glow in the damp darkness.
Rarity took up the rear, the glow from her horn lighting up the end of the group. She had no idea how long Fluttershy’s imprint would be indisposed. Whether it took that monster a few seconds to find them again or a thousand years, though, Rarity was finding it increasingly hard to care. With all the thoughts of what might be rearranging within her own body, as well as what she hoped wasn’t happening to her tail, her mind had room for little else, including the revolting horror of what she was walking through.
She prayed desperately that what had happened to her tail was merely a small side effect that had even now finished its work. It would take ages to grow back the missing curl in her tail, but that would be well worth it if nothing else happened to one of the few things of pride and joy she’d brought from her own time.
The group rushed along the organic corridor for what seemed like hours and very well could have been. There was no way to judge time down here, but thankfully it didn’t seem like they were going to be down here for much longer.
“I see a light up ahead!” Firefly called back to them. “It looks like sunlight!”
Rarity’s eyes sparked with hope. If that really was sunlight, then they were so close to getting out and hopefully leaving this place behind forever. Had her mind not been so preoccupied with the gunk dissolving into her bloodstream, the white unicorn might have wondered why a tunnel behind the eye of Fluttershy’s imprint led outside. Perhaps it was there to provide ventilation for the sappy blood running through the tree. Then again, even if the thought would have crossed her mind, she would have quickly dismissed it. Who cared why the opening was there so long as they could be free?
That hope of freedom vanished instantly when something silky brushed Rarity’s hind leg. The white unicorn whirled around, and two thing happened at once. First, she saw that another significantly larger section of her tail had fallen to the muck. Second, the force of her quick turn proved to be too much for whatever weakened roots were holding what remained of her tail in place.
“What the—” Megan almost swore, whirling around herself to see what had just hit her, only to see the remains of Rarity’s tail soaking up fluids on the floor of the corridor. Her face drained of color as she looked up at the even-whiter-than-usual unicorn, who had herself turned back around and was looking at the same dark purple curls of hair. “Rarity… I…”
The white unicorn screamed like she hadn’t since... well... falling into the bloody sap of the perfection room.
“MY TAIL!” Rarity screeched. She stuck her head back and her rear forward, seeing not a single hair left. Her rump was completely devoid of any trace of what had once been there. “THAT MONSTER IS GOING TO—”
Before the significantly unbalanced pony could finish her sentence, though, a fresh wave of pain cut her off. This time, however, the agony was centered on her eyes.
“No, no, no, NO!” Rarity chanted desperately to herself as the pain in her eye sockets escalated. Red swam before them, and they felt as if they were on fire. Scratch that, they felt as if they were MELTING.
Then they did melt.
The white unicorn shrieked in pain she hadn’t imagined was possible, collapsing and writhing in agony as her vision disappeared, her liquefied eyes welding her eyelids together. The pain escalated to its peak, and her nervous system couldn’t take it anymore. She suddenly lay still, motionless. Her brain struggled with all its might to regulate her most basic functions, sending furious signals to her organs… some of which weren’t quite her organs anymore, and were becoming less so every moment.
The worst part, though, was that Rarity’s brain was so preoccupied with just keeping her alive that it failed to relieve her mind from the horror her body was wracked with. She couldn’t move, but she could experience everything, from the sealed-off pockets of swirling molten ooze her eyes had become to the subtle shifting of tissue as cells were ripped apart and reconstructed protein by protein into something new and alien.
“RARITY!” she heard Megan cry out. There were splashes next to her ears, and some of the bloody sap saturating the floor sprayed on her cheek. Next it felt like she was moving, her body being rolled over by the feel of the human’s hands. It was the first time she and Megan had actually touched, and the hands felt even more alien and bizarre than she’d imagined. No claws, no fur, no scales. Just long, knuckled appendages coated with smooth flesh.
Smooth flesh. Just like the spot where her tail used to be.
“MARSHY!” came Surprise’s voice, filling the hall. “This is no time to take a nap!”
“What is it—what happened?!” Firefly’s voice came next.
“It must be whatever that stuff was she was injected with,” Megan replied. “She can’t move, but she seems sedated for now. Can you carry her on your back? I can form some ropes to tie her down.”
There was no response, but the split pegasus must have nodded, because the next thing she knew, Rarity was being lifted by a cushion of air. Her back then met the feeling of the warm body of a pony slightly encased with metal, and bands of pressure pressed down on her, securing her in place. The rainbow technology of Firefly’s mane crackled and tickled the white unicorn’s nose.
“What’s wrong with her?” the white pegasus’ voice demanded. “Is she going to explode with creamy marshmallow goodness?!”
‘Not helping, Surprise,’ Rarity thought bitterly.
“I don’t think so,” Megan answered. “But before we can help her, we have to get out of here. Firefly, where did you say that—there! Let’s move!”
There was a prolonged rush of wind, and then the feeling of vertigo mixed with the air pouring down over her, rather than past her, as the warmth of what must be sunlight cascaded onto her coat.
Rarity heard Megan snap, and then next thing she knew, the feeling of ropes and Firefly’s body disappeared as she was lowered onto something rubbery, presumably another newly-formed life raft. There was some shuffling, and then the sensation of movement. The raft lurched forward as the air flew past them.
Despite the pain, Rarity smiled. They’d made it. She knew she shouldn’t be celebrating just yet, as the spiderbats had made quick work of them on the way in, but they were outside again in the sunlight. In that moment, for however long it lasted, they were free of that monster.
Wait… Rarity had smiled? She had smiled!
The white unicorn experimentally twitched her ears, and much to her relieved delight, found that they moved accordingly. The sensations of her body had never left, but now their sense of obedience came rushing back, almost as if they had never left either.
Rarity cautiously sat up…
“Rarity!” Megan gasped in overjoyed surprise. “You’re alright!”
… and, much to her own surprise, found that she could open her eyes.
She had expected to see the smiling face of the human and the ditzy look of the white pegasus, but she saw neither. Instead, Megan’s face was filled with utter shock. Surprise, for once, looked surprised herself.
The field of dread flowers in Rarity’s stomach erupted into a dread forest.
“What is it?!” she demanded. “What’s wrong?! I know my tail’s gone, but what else—what else happened to me?!”
She darted her gaze across her form, but found nothing amiss save for her missing tail. That would still sit heavily with her as a psychological wound, probably for the rest of her life, but at least it could either grow back or be replaced with a faux tail. And besides, that wasn’t anywhere near the psychological wounding Sweetie Belle’s copy had caused. With that, all she could hope for was that the monster had been lying.
With a relieved sigh, Rarity turned back to her companions, who were still looking at her with utter shock. Megan was trying to conceal it with a forced smile, but even if such a ruse hadn’t been completely transparent, Surprise’s unchanged expression was a dead giveaway that all was not well, even if the white unicorn couldn’t tell.
“What’s wrong?” Rarity inquired, the dread forest in her stomach not as large as it had been but still present. Something was definitely off here, though the white unicorn couldn’t fathom what it was. She blinked in confusion, and the world changed. She screamed.
What was going on?! There were no more outlines, no shadows. Everything had dissolved into blobs of color that radiated outwards. Much of what she saw was completely devoid of anything but black, though there was a patch of red and yellow where the sun should have been… and patches of red, yellow, and even green where Megan and Surprise had just been sitting. What was she seeing?!
Rarity took all this in instantly, shutting her eyes tight the moment after the mad visage of color had assaulted her sight. After a moment, she ventured to look at the world again, and sighed with more relief and even more confusion. Everything had returned to normal, including the unnerved reactions of her friends.
“What’s going on back there?” Firefly called back. She might not have been able to see whatever Megan and Surprise were seeing, but she must have more than been able to hear Rarity’s scream.
“Nothing!” Megan answered loudly before anypony could react. “We’ll tell you when we get far enough away from the tree.”
“What WAS that?!” Rarity questioned. “Everything just turned into colors! Oh, no… It’s my eyes! Something happened to my eyes, didn’t it?! What happened?! What’s going on?!”
Megan looked like she was about to say something, but stopped herself. Finally, releasing a defeated sigh, she formed a mirror and lifted in up to the white unicorn, saying “I suppose you’ll have to find out sooner or later.”
Rarity gulped and cautiously peered into the looking glass, dread fueling the forest in her stomach.
Her eyes were the same in size and shape. Her eyelashes were unchanged. But her irises, her beautiful blue rims around pools of shining dark, were gone. In their place were dark slits surrounded by ovals as green as the fire of the being she had first seen use such eyes. These were not the eyes of a pony, but the eyes of a dragon.
They were Spike’s eyes, down to the last detail. There was no mistaking it. Fluttershy’s imprint, or maybe even the real Fluttershy, must have gotten a sample of the dragon’s genetic material all those years ago. All this time, preserved, waiting to be used in the fabrication or perfection of just the right creature. That creature, it seemed, was Rarity.
The eyes of the dragon filled with up with the tears of the pony who had been forced to wear them. Thanks to Fluttershy’s imprint, Rarity couldn’t even cry with her own eyes.
But the colors… what in The ULE had that been? Hadn’t Twilight once said that dragons could see heat? Inf... Infra... In... what had she called it? Regardless, the white unicorn had found such a concept hard to imagine at the time, but was that what it looked like?
“It’s not… that big of a change…” Megan tried to comfort. “I mean, sure, your eyes are different, but it’s just your eyes! And your missing tail…”
Rarity knew she should be thankful. From what she’d seen of the chimaeras crawling along the tree, she’d gotten off quite easily. Who knew what that stuff injected into her would have done if the process hadn’t been interrupted. Megan was right, a missing tail and a new pair of eyes were a small price to pay for freedom from that place…
But that didn’t mean that it still didn’t hurt. Rarity had always taken great pride in her appearance. Many saw it as vanity, but the white unicorn had seen it as the strive towards personal perfection. Not the abominable alteration that Fluttershy’s shade saw as perfection. No, this was what being a lady was all about. Her friends, her first real friends, had understood that. How she conducted her outwards appearance was meant to be seen as a glimpse into who she was on the inside. Someone who wanted to be the best they could be at being themselves, not just for them, but for everypony around them.
And she could still do that. But much of what she’d used to do that for so long, so long that it had grown to be an important canvas on which to paint the beauty of her soul, had been taken from her. And if her tail didn’t grow back, no matter how many faux tails she bought she would never truly regain that piece of pride at being able to convey who she really was. Though her eyes could be disguised with a spell, they would always be different.
Rarity tried to smile, the tears welling in her eyes overflowing and pouring down her face. Giving up, she curled up into a ball and cried.
“Rarity…” Megan voiced, crawling forward on the life raft and slinging a comforting arm around the huddled pony. Surprise, silent, trotted over to do the same with a foreleg.
“I’ll be alright,” Rarity promised between choked sobs, finally lifting her head with renewed vigor. “Whatever this new era may do to me, I won’t let it break me. I made a promise to myself that no matter what happened, I would keep on fighting. For my friends. Even if my own body isn’t mine anymore.”
“Don’t just live for your friends,” Megan comforted. “Live for yourself as well. You’re worth it. And besides, maybe your tail will grow back.”
Rarity was about to voice that she had hoped for the same thing, when her tail DID grow back... But, like her new eyes, it most definitely wasn’t hers anymore...
. . .
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Don’t worry! Next chapter: our heroes finally catch a break, and something GOOD happens!
EDITOR’S COMMENT: I can’t wait for what happens after the cliffhanger. It’s not what you think it is. Pseudoshy doesn’t like to make matched sets, after all. What would help Rarity survive...? Something pretty freakin’ COOL, that’s what.