Spot

by goddamnAnimal


Part 5

She stood outside The Sitting Bull orphanage with her favorite faux fur coat and a matching hat. She smelled of her best and most expensive perfume and her mane shone from using only the best shampoo money can buy
            Rarity didn’t move for a little while. Of all the horrible things that she has faced in her life, this was the one thing that was made her tense. She removed her wallet from her coat and opened it. She had placed several important pictures in the little clear sleeves attached to its insides. They were the faces of her husband, her son, her sister and her niece. Some of them together, some of them not. Rarity remembered a time she was scared to look at them, but at that moment, they gave her strength.
            She gulped and began to walk to the entrance. The building was rather plain and had a sterile feel about it. Rarity walked through the push door and was met with white walls and a pale linoleum floor.  There was a hint of bleach and other cleaning agents in the air. All of it would have made Rarity shudder slightly if it weren’t for what was in front of her. It was another wall much like the others, except this one was covered in foals’ drawings. The pictures varied in quality and skill level. Some looked happy, others looked rather melancholic. In front of them was a desk with little cat figurines lined up front with cutesy exaggerated features. A very elderly pink earth pony mare with a white and grey mane and a pair of horn-rimmed glasses that sat at the tip of her nose stared at Rarity with a patient smile.
            There was the faint sound of a child’s laughter. Rarity’s ear twitched.
            “May I help you, young lady?”
            Rarity focused back on the mare in front of her, her words caught in her throat. She fought back the urge to bite her tongue and finally spoke with less conviction than she intended.
            “Yes, I was wondering if I could speak to someone about adoption.”
            The aged mare in front of her nodded and spoke, “Do you have an appointment?”
            Rarity bit her lip. “I do not. I was hoping I could see someone today, if that wouldn’t be too much trouble.”
            The older mare nodded slowly and looked at a few papers before looking back up to Rarity. “You are in luck; Mr. Glen will be free in about fifteen minutes. He can speak to you and answer your questions if you do not mind waiting.”
            “No, that’s perfectly fine,” said Rarity.
            The older mare retrieved a few papers and gave them to Rarity.
“Sign these and bring them back when you are done. If you get antsy there are some magazines on the table over there.” The mare pointed to a stack of magazines sitting neatly in the middle of an end table. Next to the end table was a row of identical looking seats/
            Rarity nodded and sat down at one of the seats. There were a few pens in a cup on the end table with the magazines. She floated one to her and filled out each paper. The papers asked the standard questions, some looked familiar since the last time she did this. Others were completely new to her.
            Rarity then got up and hoofed the forms to the pink mare who thanked her kindly. She quietly sat back down in the seat she had chosen and kept her breathing easy. She did not think about the faint talking that the foals were making nor did she think about how close the exit was. The front desk mare looked through the papers and walked through the double doors on the side before returning. Rarity caught a glance of her cutie mark. It was a paint brush ending in a swirl. The old mare busied herself for a little while longer before she got Rarity’s attention.
             “Excuse me, miss? Mr. Glen can see you now. His office is the first door on the left once you enter the hallway.”
            Rarity nodded to the mare and walked through the big plain double doors beside the front desk. She was greeted with white walls lined with colorful pictures. On the left there was a door with a plaque next to it that read: DIRECTOR P. GLEN. Rarity slowly opened the door and stood still, taken aback by whom was sitting in the room.
            Squeezed into the tiny space at a too small desk was a minotaur, a very large and familiar Minotaur. She remembered running into the market and almost picking a fight with him. He looked as massive as when she had first seen him .The desk he sat behind looked like it could almost fit in his hands. There was a small comfortable looking chair in front of the desk and the walls were white like the rest of the building. Nothing was decorating the walls except a large picture of an elderly-looking Minotaur surrounded by children. The Minotaur in the picture had a friendly, gentle grin right smack dab in the middle of a fluffy white beard and was leaning on a cane while children crowded around him. Some of the children were of races she could identify such as ponies, griffons, a changeling,  and a hippogriff. Others in the photo, she had no idea, though one looked like a small gargoyle she saw in a book one time. Most of them looked healthy but a few of them held deformities both minor or debilitatingly bizarre. 
Rarity looked away from the picture and towards the ceiling of the room. It had two holes in it and it did not take her long to figure how they could have gotten there especially with those long, sharp minotaur horns of his. He honestly looked a little stuck in the room and Rarity wondered how he even managed to fit in there. His deep red eyes were cold and steely and stood out from his pitch black body. He had a soft smile that looked out of place and did not make him any less threatening, but looked very similar to the one Minotaur in the picture gave. 
 “Hello, Ms. Rarity. Please come in and take a seat.” His voice was just as deep the first time she heard it.
            Rarity took a breath and sat in the chair in front of her and matched the Minotaur’s gaze.
            The Minotaur began to speak again, “My name is Peaceful Glen and I am the director and main case worker for this establishment. How can I help you today?” His voice rumbled as he brought his large hands together in front of him.
            “Greetings, Mr. Glen, my name is Rarity. As I told the mare out front, I’m looking to adopt and it’s been a while since I went through this process so anything you could tell me would be appreciated. “
            The big Minotaur opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed it. He then turned his head slightly and gave her a strange look. “You’ve adopted before?”
            Rarity sat up a little straighter. “Yes, when my husband and I were younger we decided to adopt after I found out I was… unable to have them on my own. It was a long time ago though and I’m sure things have changed at least a little, especially in these times.”  Rarity frowned.
            Peaceful Glen did not say anything for a while and just stared at her, his eyes just as unreadable and steely as before. “Are you still with your husband?”
            Rarity’s eyes became cold for a moment. “He brain dead from an incident thirty years ago. I had the hospital to pull the plug on him a couple of years later.”
            “I’m sorry for your loss.” Rarity could have sworn she saw the Minotaur’s eyes soften for a split second.
            “It’s okay. I have had time to heal,” Rarity said, trying to keep the rhythm of heart monitors out of her head.
            Peaceful Glen nodded absently at that before looking down at a few papers. He cocked his head slightly at whatever he was reading. One of his horns began to dig again in the ceiling. When he looked back up to Rarity he began to speak.
            “I believe there has been a mistake on one of the forms you gave us.”
            Rarity raised an eyebrow at Glen.
“Mistake?”
            “According to the date of birth you provided us, you would be one hundred and two and you put several Equestrian royalty as a reference. It strikes me as a little odd since you look barely twenty.” He looked Rarity dead in the eye and his face was somehow stonier than it was before.
            “I’m guessing you are not from around here, are you?” Rarity asked.
            “I took over here from my grandfather last year, and I have lived in Equestria my whole life, but I am fairly new to Ponyville. ” Rarity gave an exasperated sigh at that.
            “I’m sure you have heard of me. I was once an Element of Harmony after all.”
            Peaceful Glen nodded his head.
            “Yes, some of the foals here have been learning about the elements of harmony in school although I don’t remember hearing about the elements granting immortality. I have met many ponies named after the various elements however.”
            Rarity smiled sadly at the Minotaur.
            “It all sounds rather unbelievable, doesn’t it?  The truth is I haven’t aged a day since I met Twilight Sparkle over eighty years ago.”
Rarity got a far-off wistful look in her eyes that were wizened beyond what her face could show. “There is some powerful magic in friendship it turns out. Maybe someday, I will look in the mirror and finally see myself fading, but that has not happened yet.”
A small smile graced Rarity’s lips. “When I was younger I was always a little terrified of getting older and now I wonder how long I will endure.”  Rarity felt dark thoughts begin to cloud her mind before she brushed them away. “Sorry about that, I know it is a lot to take in.”
            Peaceful Glen gave another nod. “Thank you for explaining yourself to me. My heart goes out to you for your troubles,” he said in the same monotonous tone. Rarity contained the eyebrow she wanted to raise at that. “If what you say is true, then the major differences in the adoption process from before Discord’s Rampage and today is the much more thorough background checks.”
      Rarity paused for a little bit after hearing that name. Bad memories threatened to bubble up and her body urged her to flee. The mare took a deep breath and forced the emotions down. They could not control her today. Not now.
Glen continued, “ If you are who you say you are, you should not have a problem. If you are still sure about wanting to adopt, I can set up an appointment for you in two weeks’ time after the background checks are finalized. Then we can see about finding a child a home, hopefully.”
          “Actually sir, I have already met one of the children here that I want to adopt,” said Rarity.
            “And who might that be?” the Minotaur asked.
            “A Diamond Dog named Spot.”
            The Minotaur stared at her, unblinking. It was the most surprising he looked during the entire time Rarity had been there. “How did you meet him?” he asked.
            “He  started coming around a little after the beginning of winter,” said Rarity, leaving their first meeting vague as to not get the pup in trouble.  “He helped me around the house in exchange for a gift for one of his friends.”
            Peaceful Glen’s face scrunched up and for once looked as if his emotions were having a small battle. It quickly passed and he began to speak, “As much as I would love to see him go to a good home, I have learned many years ago that ponies are just as capable of cruelty as anyone else. I’m guessing Mr. Spot has a lot of faith in you, but that faith isn’t misplaced, is it?”
            There was very little that actually scared Rarity anymore and she had faced opponents far more intimidating than Peaceful Glen could ever hope to be, but at that moment she had to suppress a shiver. She thought about why she was there and she began to speak.
            “When I first met Spot he reminded me of my own son. He was such an energetic boy.” Rarity let out of a small chuckle. “It’s funny, of all the things I have done, the proudest I have ever felt was watching Sulfur grow. I will never forget the day he graduated top of his class or when he flew for the first time.  The more time I spent around that little Diamond Dog the more I remembered him and…” A pained expression crossed Rarity’s face. “Sorry about that, give me a minute.”
            “It’s okay. Take your time,” Peaceful Glen said and waited for her to continue.
 Rarity wiped her eyes. “I don’t have a family anymore. Besides from my friends who have their own lives to worry about, I don’t have anyone. They all left this world, some much sooner than I would have liked. When Spot began coming around, he made me realize how much I missed having a family and when I look at him I see that same emptiness. I want what I had back then and I want to be able to give Spot the same, if he wants it at least.”
            Peaceful Glen sat there silently with his hands folded as he listened to her. After she finished, his expression became much softer which looked utterly foreign on his face.
 “I can’t make any promises in this stage in the adoption process but I will see what I can do. If you are serious about this, then we will start your probationary period after your background check is finalized. I will make sure to give you a call after everything has been processed,”  the Minotaur said softly.
            Rarity let out a sigh of relief and smiled brightly at the Minotaur. “Thank you, Mr. Glen. I hope our meetings in the future are most amiable.”
            “Indeed, have a wonderful day, Mrs. Rarity.”
            Rarity bid the orphanage owner goodbye and walked out of the establishment feeling much lighter than she had in a very long time. She stood outside and looked at the clear blue sky above with a feeling in her heart that things were about to get better.
            She smiled and felt the air enter her lungs, ideas buzzing inside her mind. Rarity would make Ponyville a home again, a true home. She could clean up one of the spare rooms, have all the holes she made in the place properly fixed and maybe have the boutique repainted. She was once again glad she had kept the boutique around. Now it could be more than just an escape from the dreary New Manehattan skyline and be a true place of belonging.
            There were some birds singing above her. It sounded like music to her ears. A familiar homeless stallion was asleep of the sidewalk next to a tin can that had ‘change’ sloppily scrawled on it. Rarity lifted a large bag of bits out of her coat and dropped it next to the stallion like it was second nature. She continued past him, not breaking her stride.
            Rarity turned a corner. There was not much on the street but a few homes and a post office at the end. The homes were small and well kept with little white picket fences with each a different color that all looked good brightly lit in the sunshine with a hint of stillness from the cool air.  The post office was one of those small neighborhood government building almost unnoticed in its drabbness in its brown brick color. There was a small bench and a newspaper dispenser next to it with obvious purpose. The building and it’s accessories was so nondescript that could fade into the grass and nothing would change except the loss of people’s mail.
She had almost made it halfway down the street when the post office doors opened and a mare with an orange coat, a blonde mane and three apples for a cutie mark stepped out. Despite missing her hat and her mane no longer in her old ponytail style she was instantly recognizable. It was her old friend Applejack, a mare she had not spoken too in nearly twenty-nine years.
            The orange mare was staring down at a complicated watch that was wrapped around her fetlock. Applejack eyed the device like it was an overly convoluted riddle and she began to poke at its buttons with her free hoof, completely unaware of who was just a little down the street.
            Rarity bit her lip as she watched her old friend. She had not seen her since she moved back to Ponyville and had avoided the Apple family farm like the plague. Before Rarity could think about ducking out and hiding somewhere, Applejack turned her head in her direction, her green eyes lighting up when she caught sight of the white unicorn.
“Do my eyes deceive me, Rarity, is that you?”said Applejack as she walked towards the unicorn.
            Rarity froze and began to sweat. The seconds rolled by and she finally had to push the words out of her mouth.
 “H-Hello, Applejack.”
            Not noticing how nervous Rarity was, Applejack walked up to her and gave her a big hug. A hug Rarity did not feel like she deserved. After breaking apart and a gentle look on her face, Applejack began to speak.
            “How have you been, sugarcube?”
            “I have had my days, but I have been doing much better lately. Thank you for asking.” Rarity gave her orange friend a shaky grin. Applejack’s face morphed into one of sympathy.
“That’s good to hear, Rarity. I’m sorry I haven’t stopped by to visit you. Twilight said  you moved back here around nine months ago, but I’ve been away on business.” said Applejack, a look of aggravation briefly crossing her face.
            Rarity chuckled.
            “Don’t worry about it, Applejack. It’s not like I was making a good attempt to visit you myself if I were to be honest.”
        “Aw shucks, Rarity. I guess we are both going to have to make up for lost time, aren’t we? Are you still running your clothing business?” 
    “No, I retired. The whole enterprise lost its sparkle after a while.”
    “It’s about time, I reckon. Eighty years is a long time to be running something like that. I’m glad you did that for yourself.”
“Me too,” said Rarity softly. 
The old cowpony gave Rarity a warm look. It was hard to think that she screamed in that comforting face all those years ago.  Applejack began to frown as her friend remained silent.
            Rarity took a deep breath and began to speak, “Applejack… I’m really sorry that it has been so long and how I acted last time I saw you. I don’t deserve your friendship.”
            Applejack continued to frown for a moment before putting a hoof of Rarity’s shoulder.
            “Rarity we were all hurting from what happened thirty years ago. I don’t think there is anypony alive that hadn’t lost anyone from that day. I lost family and I lost a best friend…” A look of anguish crossed Applejack’s face. “We’ve all been trying to get past that hurt and we’ve all have said or did things that have been driving us apart. We’ve thrown ourselves into our work or ran as far away from Equestria as possible. Shoot, none of us have heard from Rainbow since she went on that revenge mission of hers, Pinkie hasn’t been back from exploring the world in years and it took a long time for me and Twilight to stop throwing ourselves into our work and ignoring everything else.”
Applejack’s face hardened with determination and she stomped her hoof. “But I’m tired of not being friends anymore with you and the rest of the girls. Equestria ain’t the same like when we were young, but that doesn’t mean I want to live in it without you. I have forgiven you a long time ago and I hope you do the same for me not being there when you needed it.”
            Rarity stood there, a little shocked until her words caught up with her. She enveloped Applejack in a hug and buried her head into the crook of the cowpony’s neck.  The orange mare wrapped her hooves around her in kind.
            “I’m glad you think I’m worth it, Applejack. We should really find some time and talk like old times.”
            “We definitely should, sugarcube.” Applejack broke the hug. “I’m meeting with Twilight for coffee tomorrow. You should come and join us.” Rarity’s face fell at the thought, the wounds still fresh in her mind.
            “I’m not sure if that’s a good idea, darling. My last chat with Twilight... did not go so well.” Rarity flinched at her own words.
            Applejack nodded and gave her a look of sympathy. “I heard. It would probably be a good time to apologize to her, I reckon.”
            Rarity bit her lip. “I’m not sure that would go over well.”
            “Rarity, you’ve been friends with Twilight for over eighty years. If you give her a chance, she’ll give you a chance.”
            Rarity looked down at the cracks in the sidewalk. Thoughts about her purple friend came up in her mind, along with thoughts of her young ward. “What if I don’t deserve a chance?”
            Applejack stood there for a second before making way towards the bench. She sat down and gestured with a hoof for Rarity to come join her. The bench was simple with a couple pieces of wood on rod iron legs.  Rarity came down and sat down next to her, still staring at the ground.
            “I’m not sure what you mean, hun, but I bet my bits it has to do with that youngin’ that Twilight is raising. Am I right?” said Applejack.   
Rarity looked up at her but said nothing.
 Applejack began again, “I know it ain’t easy, it’s hard not to think of that kiddo’s father when you look at him.”  The cowpony’s lips turned downward and she adopted a solemn look. “But I’m glad that kid is around. As long as he’s around, I feel like a part of Fluttershy will always be here with us.” She began to smile again. “That sprout is a lot like their mother and I’m glad for that.”
            Rarity sat there with her old friend for a moment. She looked back over at the blue sky and the neat-looking buildings. Her friend’s words created a warm feeling inside her.
            “Okay, Applejack, I will try. Where and what time would you like to meet for this coffee date of yours?” said Rarity, giving her friend a teasing smirk at the end.
            The orange mare gave out a low hum. “How about I meet you at that old boutique you’ve been living at around eight tomorrow and we can catch up as we walk there, sound good?”
            Rarity let out a deep breath she did not know she was holding in. “It sounds perfect.”
            Applejack’s smile once again radiated, giving her a kind of glow that Rarity was not used to.
            “I’m glad,” said Applejack simply.
            Applejack looked back down at the digital watch strapped to her foreleg before turning her attention back to Rarity.
            “I best be going, sugarcube. I have some youngsters who’re waiting for me at the farm. I bet they’re going to have themselves a cow when they see their favorite granny walking through the door.” Applejack chuckled. She gave Rarity a nod and spoke. “I’ll see you around, Rarity, you have yourself a good rest of the day, you hear?”
            “I will try my best, Applejack. I will be seeing you.”
            The two of them got up and said their goodbyes. Rarity felt more hope bubbling inside of her for the future.
……………………………………………………………….
 
 
The walk back to the boutique was a quiet one for the most part. The streets weren’t crowded and it truly was a beautiful day. It was times like that that made Rarity glad she never got an automobile despite all of their conveniences. She did not need one when she was younger and she definitely did not need one now.
 The traffic did start to get more backed up the closer she got to her boutique. When she finally saw her home in line of sight, she saw what was stopping up the cars.
            There was a crowd of ponies gathered in the road, blocking the traffic. She saw a couple of them run off. A bad feeling began to rise in Rarity’s stomach and she walked faster toward the crowd until she was almost running.
            As Rarity got closer she saw their terrified faces and worried mumbling. A few of the voices were angry but indistinguishable. She made it to the crowd and pushed through them. She heard someone crying loudly. 
            “I swear he just jumped out in front of me! Somebody go get help! Oh Celestia, forgive me…” cried the voice again.
            When she reached the inner circle, she stopped in her tracks. There was an elderly stallion with grey fur currently weeping into his hooves. He was leaning against an automobile with a sizeable dent in the side of its bumper, near the wheel. There was a bit of blood on him and the car.  Around him, his cries had gone unheeded by the circling crowd and their attention was on what was sitting in a pool of blood beside him.
    Their faces was a sea of shocked, scared expressions. A muted mumbling was spread through the whole group. Rarity could hear people quietly saying that someone should do something, that someone should get help, get the princesses or anyone as they all just stood there.
In the middle of the circle was the bloody, mangled form of a familiar Diamond Dog pup.  His head was turned the other direction and she could see some of his bones sticking out of him. His eyes were glassy and dull. His head lulled limply as he was cradled.
“Please no. Anything but this…” she thought she heard herself say.
He was being clutched in the stained, misshapen hands of a monster. A mismatch of clashing parts and colors that belonged only in dreams and the imaginations of unwell children. Despite its appearance it was a species Rarity knew too well and it was the second one she knew of. It was the thing that lived with Twilight, the thing that she selfishly wished would disappear. It was a draconequus that was caked in Spot’s blood.
“Oh no...Please no… I can’t…I can’t…” Her vision blurred and her ears became dull to sound. Rarity felt like she was underwater. Things began to melt and fade back to an older memory.
…………………………………..
 “My word, you look as beautiful as a sunset on the water,” said a silky smooth voice of someone Rarity had once known.
There was a maple-colored mule looking Rarity in the eye with his hoof over hers. His eyes were relaxed, and spread a soothing calm within her that no one else had ever given her. Just looking into them made Rarity feel like everything was going to be alright. He was smartly dressed in a fine black tuxedo adorned with a rose and he was sitting next to her at a table with all the fancy dressings. His slicked back mane had aged to a fine gray and his face had been weathered with time, but he still looked just as handsome as the day she met him.
“Oh please, Francis. You don’t need to be charming all the time; we’ve been married for how long?” Rarity heard herself say.
The mule in front of her gave Rarity that signature warm smile of his and then spoke in his soft southern drawl, “It’ll be our forty-second year this May.” He picked up a wine glass in front of him and gave Rarity a wink. “And you know I’ve never been able to turn off my machismo.”
Rarity felt herself rest her chin in her hooves. “Well, luckily for you, I know the cure for too much charm.”
“Ew.” Rarity heard another voice that sounded like it was muffled by cotton.
Rarity turned to find a largish yellow dragon holding a half eaten watermelon. His cheeks were puffed up with food.
“Don’t chew with your mouth full, dear,” Rarity spoke again.
The dragon stopped mid-chew and swallowed, giving her a sheepish grin. “Sorry,” he said.
“Oh leave him alone, you’re the one who was making love to your hubby with your eyes over there.” Rarity felt her head turn towards the obnoxious voice and found a gold unicorn mare with a curly white mane. She was sitting next to an older mare with a white coat. Despite her age, Sweetie Belle was as beautiful as ever. Even the stink eye she was giving her daughter did little to mar that beauty.
The golden mare scoffed at her mother’s look. “Oh don’t give me that look, mom. I get enough uptightness at work to last a lifetime.” Rarity’s niece punctuated her statement by stuffing her mouth with the daffodil sandwich in front of her. Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes at her daughter.
Francis finished taking a small sip of his wine before giving Rarity’s niece a raised eyebrow. “Speaking of husbands, Liberty, I’m guessing yours couldn’t quite make it to our dinner?”
The golden mare’s face scrunched up into a sour look. “The Princesses called him back to Canterlot. It’s what I get for marrying a soldier, I guess.”
“He’s coming back before the baby is born, isn’t he?” Rarity heard herself say.
Liberty’s eyes drifted to her enlarged stomach for a second before her face rested into a scowl. “He better if he knows what’s good for him!” she said.
Everyone at the dinner table began to laugh, unaware of what was about to befall them.
There was a rumble and the restaurant began to shake and a thunderous boom could be heard in the distance. Everyone in the restaurant turned their heads toward the sound.
“What was that?” Rarity heard her sister say.
Right outside the front window of the establishment, in the middle of a slightly busy Manehattan street, stood Discord. His long thin body fizzed like he was inside of a worn out VHS tape.The color was drained from his usually multicolored body, his torsowhite like paper. His eyes had no pupils and his mouth was completely slack.
Rarity was about to call out to him before Discord exploded.
It was first a flash of white that began to flicker rapidly into a chaotic rainbow.  Hues both familiar and unfamiliar. Rarity threw her hooves over her eyes when the colors became too intense. Pain racked her body as she felt her skin being peeled off by the chaos magic. When it finally ended, Rarity lowered her hooves and found that they had been charred black by whatever had happened.  The first thing Rarity saw was the open sky, darkened by a rainbow colored miasma. Her gaze drifted downward and she saw she was standing in a crater. The building she was in before was gone. Any buildings she could see poked out at the edge of the crater like broken teeth. They were melting like candles.
Rarity looked at the ground and saw blood pooling at her hooves. The smell of burnt flesh was strong in the air. Her sister was lying in front of her with a piece of rebar sticking out of her chest and half her head crumpled inward. She looked like her body was made of wadded up tinfoil. Next to Sweetie’s body was a couple of smoldering pony skeletons, a large one and a much, much smaller one underneath it.
Wake up.
Rarity tried to move her body, to hold her sister, to cry, to scream, but she felt like she was encased in sludge. Her head turned left to see Francis on the floor, twitching, eyes blank, and foaming at the mouth.
Rarity then felt her head move involuntarily over to where her son was sitting. There wasn’t much left of him. There was a tree made of crystal sticking out of what remained. The tree looked like it had burst out of his back and tore the rest of him to shreds. Its trunk and branches were permanently bent, blown into a swept shape by a great eldritch wind, and was colored red and yellow by blood and scales.
Then there was laughter.
Rarity looked over and saw Discord himself doubled over, twisting on the floor like an earthworm, with tears flooding down his face and a large crooked grin gracing his features.  
Wake up.
The laughter got louder and Discord was looking like he had seen the funniest thing in his entire life. Chaos magic radiated off of him, wild arcs horribly twisting everything they touched or annihilating them completely.
Rarity moved slowly towards him, her mind was on a cloud. Her screams never touched her lips. She had uprooted the crystal tree that killed her son. When Rarity stood over Discord, she saw every emotion but fear in his eyes. The laughs just kept right on coming.
No matter how hard she dropped the tree on him, the laughter did not stop. She kept it raining down on his head harder and faster with each impact. His wild magic kept sparking off him with each blow bringing more power but missing her completely and instead melting the world around her into an even more ugly form. Yet still she kept the crystal tree coming down on him. It wasn’t until his face was nothing more than a stain in the crater and his body began to crumble away like dust that she realized the laughter was not coming from him.
The laughter was coming from her.
Rarity then felt her head turn once again. This time toward a piece of  a broken mirror that lay on the ground beside them. She saw a tall, black mare with a long flowing purple mane and cat like eyes. A Nightmare.
            Their voices spoke as one.
                “Wake up.”
Rarity opened her eyes and looked down at all the ponies backing away from her in fear. She smiled and showcased her razor sharp teeth. She started laughing again, the white mare was now tall and dark.
The black mare’s horn began to crackle with death and a large ball of wicked magic formed at the very tip. The group watched in horror. Those who were not frozen in fear ran as fast as their hooves could carry them as soon as they felt magic being gathered. The Nightmare laughed at their futility.
She controlled her mirth into a sadistic grin.
“Au Revoir,” said the improper caricature of once good mare.
Her smile disappeared completely when her spell exploded bubblegum in her mane.
The dark mare howled in rage, her eyes becoming wild and psychotic. Whoever was left standing ran while they had the chance from her distraction, leaving only the Nightmare and the small misshapen child currently shaking like a leaf in front of her. The draconequus had multiple eyes that were currently split between her and a twisted dead body of a young Diamond Dog. She met the small draconequus in the eyes that weren’t trained on the corpse. The creature held a shivering hand that dripped with sweat and bullets to the dark mare, the creature’s little chest of shifting colors heaved rapidly as it tried to get more oxygen in their lungs. The little monster’s other disproportioned hand was resting on the corpse below them, glowing with an eldritch magic. The dog’s form morphed and twisted, growing and losing limbs, and shifted from a pool of broken flesh into other strange shapes the longer the Nightmare made eye contact.The creature’s face became more anguished as the body continued to morph and their rapid breath became more broken.
“Trying to bring back your friend? Pathetic. Time to die, little worm,” the Nightmare spat as she slowly approached the shivering draconequus. Her hooves began to slowly sink into the ground as it began to melt into fudge without her noticing. 
“I waited thirty long years to have my day and it shall not be ruined by a disgusting whelp such as you.” The Nightmare’s horn began to gather magic once again and the creature’s other hand began to glow.
When the Nightmare attempted to unleash her spell, a silly string shot out of her horn instead of what she was intending.
The Nightmare’s eyes began to glow with magic and murderous intent. “My power has become ultimate with suffering, your efforts are pointless.”
With that, the Nightmare’s horn glowed brighter with black sorcery and she began to shoot small candies and confetti along with the silly string. She aimed her horn at the magic child, pelting them with candy and string.
The draconequus began to jerk and twitch under the assault, his eyes began to leak fresh tears. The morphing body of their fallen friend began to change into other creatures and geometric shapes. The creature’s three hearts looked like they were attempting to escape their chest. The draconequus began to claw at their neck with his two free hands as they failed to get more oxygen into their lungs.
The Nightmare began to laugh once again as she upped her magic and began to drench the area in destruction. Whole buildings began to fall apart and disintegrate. Stop signs began to fall from the sky along with several deformed princesses and spotted Diamond Dogs. They splattered across the ground in a colorful mess.
The draconequus removed their hands from the twisting body before them and away from the tall, black mare and began to cradle his face with his other two arms hugging his body. His form began to shimmer and their colors began to change more rapidly. He fell to the ground and he curled up into a ball.
The sky began to crack and split in two, and its solid blue turned into a technicolor swirl. A mare, fleeing a nearby collapsing house fell to the ground, her flesh squirming as her blood vessels turned into snakes.
Elsewhere, the forms of ponies and other denizens began to smear like wet paint being hit with water. Everything began to blend together as basic outlines became nonexistent. Others seeing this began to run, only to trip over themselves as their limbs began to spagettify and their heads rolled into a spiral shape. Eyeballs began to float out of some of their skulls, and pop once they reached the upper atmosphere.  Buildings began to collapse into tetrahedrons or simply turn into giant household appliances. The streets became the color of many shades of plaid or simply began to not exist entirely. Gravity joined the realm of imagination.
The Nightmare’s smile began to die on her lips and her laughter was now long gone as she looked upon the madness, her body floating upward. She felt an unfamiliar feeling grip her heart and for the first time in the parasite’s short life, she felt something other than hate and malevolence. Her jaw dropped and her face twisted in pure terror as she gazed into her own insignificance.
Her body then disintegrated into colorful butterflies. They fluttered away silently into the drooling kaleidoscope sky and became one with the universe.
A purple pony princess teleported to the scene, the name of her young ward died on her lips as she flattened into a lump of flesh, her skeleton not making the journey. 
Mountains began to peel like bananas and clouds began to fall from the sky and splatter egg yolks on the ground. All the grass became fields of glasses and the water on the planet turned into different types of orange juice. Everything began to mix together into a mismatch of swirling color. Finally the whole planet turned into the shape of a pancake.
Pan the draconequus fell to the ground convulsing in the middle of a chaotic maelstrom. The little being began to sink into the ground and all of existence followed him, leaving nothing behind. He did not reach the bottom before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and darkness finally overtook him and everything else.