//------------------------------// // Chapter 18: Element of Generosity // Story: The Dark Knight Falls // by TheClownPrinceofCrime //------------------------------// Rarity entered through the door and closed behind her. Once the door was closed, she found herself in a massive landscape in the middle of nowhere. “Huh, where exactly am I?” she asked herself. She began to walk around the landscape in search of civilization; every mile she went showed no sign of life. “I must keep searching! I cannot make it out of here without encountering my challenge.” she determined. Thus, she pressed on in her search although she had no idea where she was heading. After about five minutes of wandering, she finally spotted something...a large mansion. Rarity’s eyes widened in surprise and gazed at the attractive building. “My, my! What a beautiful mansion! I must take a look inside!” she exclaimed. She entered through the front gates and then through the front door of the mansion. Once she entered therein, she beheld a massive pool of gems, diamonds, crystals, and jewels. Her smile grew larger and larger until it reached to her eyes. Never in her lifetime had she been in a rich place filled with all sorts of treasure, especially diamonds; she only wished that she had a much bigger carousel boutique to store all of them. “Never in my wildest dreams have I seen such magnificent, fabulous, and amazing treasure!” she squealed. “There’s got to be more!” “Indeed, there is.” a strange voice spoke. “Huh? Is somepony here?” Rarity asked the speaker. She didn’t see anyone present in the mansion. Curious, she trotted to the rooms of the house to find out if someone else was there. She went to the living room, the kitchen, the bedrooms, the bathroom, and the other rooms, but she still saw no one in any of them. “Hello! Anypony home?” Rarity called. “Here I am.” the voice spoke again. Suddenly, a giant metallic lizard appeared in front of her in the living room. He was colored black with a long whiplash tail, was covered in horns, had sharp claws and teeth, and his eyes were orange with black, vertical (slit) pupils. Rarity gasped in surprise as she beheld the creature. “What in the name of Equestria are you?!” she demanded. “Ahhh, yes...pardon my lack of manners. My name is Zygotron, the keeper of this mansion. What is yours, my dear?” he politely asked. “My name is Rarity, good sir. I appreciate your courtesy. I also apologize for barging into your home; very rude on my part.” she said. “Not a problem, Ms. Rarity.” Zygotron waved off. “As a matter of fact, I have been waiting for somepony like you to appear.” “You have? You actually heard of me before?” she asked, raising her eyebrow. “Of course, my dear! Your admiration for fashion and artistic design is not unheard of, you see. I believe this is a good opportunity for you to claim something which, I am sure, you have been waiting for.” said Zygotron, smiling. “Ohh! So you will give me a chance to grow my career and expand my resources as a fashionista?!” Rarity excitedly asked, pushing her hooves on her cheeks. “Absolutely, Rarity.” Zygotron confirmed. “Splendid! Marvelous!” Rarity rejoiced. “Come, come, allow me to guide you to the key of your future success.” he directed, motioning her to follow him. Rarity gladly followed Zygotron through the hallway of the mansion until they reached to the humongous front door of the basement. Once he opened it with his tail, he led the unicorn downstairs to the basement where there was a large pink pearl which glowed brightly in the darkness. Rarity gazed idly at the pearl and drew closer to it; however, Zygotron grabbed the pearl before her and held it in the air. “Nah, ah, ahh, first things first, my beautiful guest.” “What should I do to earn that pearl?” asked Rarity. “I am glad you asked! To know what to do, I must show you the hindrances that will get in your way.” Zygotron replied. He pulled on the wall. The whole right wall opened up which revealed all the dead and living ponies in the storage room. Some of the dead ponies were skeletons while the other dead ones were just decomposing. The living ponies were both malnourished, beaten, burnt, and sick. Rarity was appalled and horrified at the frightening sight. Zygotron then grew a sadistic smile. “You see, these live ponies are thieves that will try to destroy your future; if you want to be successful and powerful, you must keep your wealth and resources to yourself to preserve your destiny.” he advised. “WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THESE POOR PONIES?!!” Rarity screamed, disregarding every word he said to her. “I simply tortured and maimed them. If you ask me, that is what I call just comeuppance for trying to steal what rightfully belongs to me.” Zygotron callously said. Rarity started to sob at the sight of the fillies and colts being nearly starved to death as they hold their parents’ arms closely. How could anybody be that cruel and sadistic in torturing and murdering ponies just to keep wealth and luxuries? This made her angry. “Here is what you must do: you must kill all these ponies slowly and painfully. Only then will I grant you all these gifts upstairs and especially this—AHHH!!!” Zygotron cried out as he was shot in the eye. Rarity fiercely glared at him with her ignited horn. “YOU BEASTLY BEAST!!! I WILL TEAR YOU APART FOR HURTING THESE POOR PONIES!!!” Zygotron looked completely shocked at Rarity’s dramatic reaction. “Well...this test certainly didn’t last long...” he muttered. He activated his whiplash tail with electricity and pointed it at Rarity. “I tried to be nice with you, but it appears that you yourself have become a loose end. You can’t get out of here if I kill you!” “It...is...ON!!” she said. She shot several more magical blasts at his chest, but his metal body was resistant to magic. He swung his tail at her to electrocute her. She quickly dodged out of the way. She continued to fire more shots at the monster to find at least one weak spot. Suddenly, his claw landed in front of her; Zygotron evilly laughed before breathing acid at her. She activated her diamond shield to protect her from the burning acid. Once he stopped, he fired two spike missiles at her, but she blasted them with ease. “Come on! Don’t make this hard for me!” Zygotron yelled, frustrated. Rarity saw his sparkling tail stand up. Once she kept looking at it, she got an idea. She ran up to him as fast as she could before climbing on a random ladder. From there, she jumped onto a part of his back that wasn’t covered with horns. She then blew raspberries at him. Zygotron angrily looked back at her. “You’re dead, Rarity!” he yelled. His swung his tail at her, but she jumped off of his back before he could hit her. Thus, he accidentally electrocuted himself. He fell down on the floor completely fried and worn out. Looking at him smugly, Rarity ran upstairs, levitated all the diamonds and wealth with her magic, and brought them to the dying ponies. “There you go, darlings! You now have more than enough to buy all the shelter, clothing, and food you need to survive. A surplus is better than nothing.” The wounded ponies then cried tears of joy and hugged each other and Rarity as they got out of the mansion. “Thank you...so much for your generosity, dear.” a poor mare thanked. “No, darling, thank you!” Rarity smiled. At that moment, everything faded into darkness. She saw the same crystal door in front of her again. She opened it and saw her friends again back in the crystal dimension. They cheered for her and embraced her tightly for her accomplishment. “I knew you could do it, Rarity!!” Twilight said. “I’m glad you believed in me, Twilight.” said Rarity. “THAT DOES IT!! I’VE HAD FAR ENOUGH OF THIS NONSENSE!!” Nightmare Moon shrieked. “It is now just Fluttershy and you, Twilight Sparkle! If I can’t make your other friends fail, I’ll just have to destroy the both of you myself!” She jumped from her throne and landed before the Mane Six. “Twilight, I challenge you to a dual. If you defeat me, I will release you and your friends from this dimension. If I win, The Joker will gain control over Equestria...forever!!” she maniacally laughed. Twilight got herself in battle stance and ignited her horn. “Bring it, Nightmare Moon!” she accepted. “However, even if you win, you will still have to wait for Fluttershy to survive her trouble. Hahahahaha!!” Nightmare added, wickedly chuckling. She teleported Fluttershy to a dark room where there was blood stains and bones on the floor. “W-Where am I?” Fluttershy quivered. Suddenly, she heard cackling and laughs in the room. Out of the shadows came a clan of hyenas. They surrounded her and and slowly advanced towards her. “Hello there, pretty pegasus. Mind if you could...stay for dinner?” one of them sinisterly asked. “Oh, dear...” Fluttershy whimpered.