//------------------------------//
// The Love That Makes Undaunted The Final Sacrifice 
// Story: Red Strings, White Chains 
// by Undome Tinwe 
//------------------------------//

"Rarity? Is that you?"

In any other circumstance, Celestia would have laughed at the image of her beloved looking like a child caught with her hoof in the cookie jar. Rarity slowly turned her head to face Celestia, wearing the most plastic smile she'd ever seen on the mare. "Celestia! Fancy seeing you here!" She let out a nervous laugh.

"When somepony triggers the wards I've set up around the Forbidden Archives, I tend to take notice," Celestia said bluntly.

"And here I thought you trusted me enough to de-attune your wards against me." Rarity's faux-jovial tone was grating to Celestia, and she decided it was time to put her hoof down.

"I was going to, but it seemed like a low-priority task for me to attend to," she said. "Fortunately, things worked out and my misplaced trust didn't have the chance to bite me in the flank." She made sure to rise to her full height, putting on the mantle of the Sun Princess to hide the pain in her heart. "I expected better of you."

"Please, my love, I can explain." It hurt to see the fear in Rarity's eyes as she backed away, the book she was reading still floating in her grasp.

"Explain why I just found you in the Dark Magic sections of the Archives reading up on immortality spells?" A flicker of hope sparked in Celestia's heart. "Are you being coerced into this? In somepony blackmailing you into stealing that book?" If that were the case, then heads would roll, but at least Celestia would know that her love had been true.

Her heart sank just as quickly as it had risen when Rarity shook her head. "I'm afraid not, dear. I'm quite the independent mare in this endeavour, though I do have Twilight to thank for telling me where I needed to go. She had no idea what I was going to do, of course."

"Of course," Celestia repeated hollowly. "Why would she ever suspect that one of her closest friends was going to do something so selfish?" She could feel the vile magic emanating from that book, and it sickened her. "You know the price of those spells — we've talked about this before."

"I'm aware of the reasons why these spells are restricted, yes," Rarity said. She paled as she glanced at the book. "Though, I'll admit that getting that information from the source was a rather... enlightening experience."

Celestia snorted. "And do you still plan on casting them?"

"I—" Rarity hesitated, and then her eyes met Celestia's and her voice grew firm. "Yes. Yes, I am." 

"I thought you had made peace with your mortality." They'd talked about this multiple times, and Rarity had assured her that she wasn't jealous of Celestia's agelessness.

"I thought I had as well," Rarity replied. "And then I saw your face when I came back from the fight against Sleipnir, when you thought we had perished. That moment before you recognized me will stay with me forever, I think."

This was not where she had expected the conversation to go. Celestia still remembered that horrible, horrible time when she thought Rarity had been lost to that great beast, was expecting to have to receive condolences for losing her love in the line of duty. It was something she tried not to dwell on, but she'd be lying if she said it hadn't left its mark.

Rarity continued to speak, ignoring the pain that must have been showing in Celestia's eyes. "I realized then that while I had accepted that my time on this world was limited, the thought of the pain my passing would cause you was too much to bear." Her voice softened, and her eyes began to tear up. "I wanted to protect you from that pain. You know I would never cause you pain if I could prevent it."

That was... much more in line with Rarity. Celestia was relieved that her fiancée hadn't become corrupted by greed and desire for longevity, but she was still disappointed in her lack of understanding of her own Element. "Rarity, while I appreciate the sentiment, I am not a child who needs to be protected from the harsh realities of life. And furthermore, you know those spells exact a terrible price on the world. True Generosity does not sacrifice the well-being of others for the sake of, well, Nepotism."

At this, Rarity actually looked offended, of all things. "Celestia, please, I think I know at least the basics of what generosity means." She floated over the open book to her. "This is the spell I was looking for."

Celestia grabbed the book, ignoring the slimy darkness that seeped into her soul at holding it with her magic. She looked at the spell written on the page before her, and disappointment quickly turned to horror. "Of all the despicable spells in this book, this is far and away the worst," she whispered. "The others all demand a price paid in blood and life, but this... this spell traps a pony's soul inside a focus. It is the darkest of magics known to ponykind."

She raised an eyebrow as she scanned the spell's details. "This is an imprisonment spell," she noted, confused. "It doesn't grant immortality."

Rarity smirked weakly. "Doesn't it?" Her voice was strained even as she attempted to keep her playful tone.

The gears clicked in Celestia's mind, and she immediately slammed the book shut, as if closing it would also wipe the spell from existence. "No," she said, more of a plea than a command. "You mustn't. I won't let you do this."

Rarity rolled her eyes. "You make it sound as if I'm going to cast this spell today," she said. "I'm only preparing myself for the hopefully very-distant future, after I've hopefully taken the world by storm and lived a long and fulfilling life by your side."

"This spell was designed by the worst ponies who ever lived to torment their enemies for all eternity." Celestia held back a shudder as she seriously considered just burning the book on the spot. "You would be trapped in some rock, bound to the whims of whomever possessed the focus."

"First of all, I doubt I would use just any rock as a focus." That damnably casual air about Rarity was both infuriating and soothing, and Celestia was completely ill-equipped to deal with it. "I was thinking a sufficiently large diamond, fit to dazzle the crowds. Something akin to my cutie mark, perhaps, for the symbolism. It would, of course, be set in a proper piece of jewelry — I have some ideas about what types of aesthetics would be both timeless and enhance the beauty of a diamond such as myself."

She could not possibly be going into Designer Mode at a time like this. "Rarity!" Celestia snapped, settling on annoyance as her emotional state, with a healthy serving of panic on the side. "This is not a joking matter!"

Her words immediately sobered up the mare. "You're right," Rarity said, her eyes drifting downwards and away from Celestia's. "But this is the only spell that will allow me to stay with you forever that doesn't require sacrificing a life — or many — for it."

"It does require a sacrifice," Celestia pointed out. "Yours."

"As I said, I don't plan on casting this spell tomorrow." A distant, melancholic smile played on Rarity's lips, her eyes staring off into the distance. "I don't think I'll have much of a life left to lose by that point."

"You wouldn't be able to pass on from this world." Surely, she could make Rarity see sense on this matter. "So long as the spell is active and focus is intact, you'll be trapped in this realm, deprived of your final reward. You are far too good a mare for that to happen."

"It won't be much of an eternal reward if you aren't there." Rarity took a step towards Celestia, hesitant.

"Rarity..." It was all too much. Celestia had thought she had known the depths of her lover's generosity, but to be willing to give up the peace of her final repose for her — how could she not have fallen in love with this incredible mare?

They embraced, Celestia being careful to slide the book back onto the shelf with her magic, relief washing over her at not having to touch that blasted thing anymore. "I'm sorry I went behind your back," Rarity murmured. "But I knew you wouldn't approve."

"I still don't." This wasn't an argument Celestia could win by appealing to what Rarity would lose. She needed a different tactic. "If you locked yourself within a necklace for all eternity, I would be right beside you in whatever vault I built for you. I wouldn't ever be able to bring myself to leave, wouldn't ever be able to move on because I couldn't risk losing whatever your soul was trapped in."

She pulled back for a moment to give Rarity a kiss. "And I wouldn't ever want to do anything besides showing you how much I loved you. You'd be damning the whole country by not allowing me to mourn you."

"Hmm." Rarity's eyes were troubled, a storm raging within her as she battled her desire to see Celestia happy with her duty to her country. "I suppose you have a point. We must all make sacrifices sometimes, and it wouldn't be right for me to take that away from you."

"Perhaps one day, we'll discover the secret of ascension and you'll be able to experience Eternity with me," Celestia said. "But for now, let's not dwell on the future. We may be called to sacrifice much in the years to come, and I know I won't be able to stop you should that day come when I have to lose you, but we can enjoy today while we still can."

"Today, then." Rarity said breathlessly before leaning in for another kiss. "Will you come with me to apologize to Twilight? I'm afraid I abused her trust quite badly to figure out how to get here."

"I'm interested in what you did to get past all the other security," Celestia said. "As I said, I hadn't gotten around to giving you authorization for the Restricted Sections yet."

"Your former student spent a lot of time determining the fastest way to get to whatever books she wanted to read without having to waste time at security checkpoints," Rarity replied with a much more genuine smile. "I don't think the poor dear even realized that she had given me a plan for infiltrating the palace when I met with her for tea last week."

"Perhaps I should consider promoting you to Spymaster," Celestia commented as they headed towards the exit, where the guards would no doubt be very surprised to see them walk out.

"Only if I'm allowed to wear a proper hooded cloak for the position," Rarity replied, leaning into Celestia and rubbing against her.

"We can negotiate that." Celestia nuzzled the mare who was going to be her wife, and the world was swept away under a wave of love. "I'm sure I can make a generous offer worthy of you."