"Please, Sweetie Belle, if you'd simply listen—"
Rarity's plea was cut off as she ducked yet another object thrown full force at her face—another of her expensive paintings torn right from the wall she noted. With an instinctual flex of will that no longer had anything to do with ordinary unicorn magic, she plucked the painting out of the air and set it gently onto a nearby table with all the other tossed items.
All she could was give an inward sigh at this unfortunate turn of events. She knew to some extent that her sister would notice her transformation. She knew in general that what Twilight had done would have some unforeseen consequences. She'd basically had no say in what was done to her, but she couldn't blame Twilight for that. Never mind the fact that she literally couldn't blame her. She didn't want to.
After what she'd learned about the mare's circumstances, she realized that Twilight had been just as much a victim as Rarity herself was. Did Rarity have regrets about her forced subservience and monstrous new nature? Of course, she did, but she also knew things could've been much worse.
She still had her own free will for the most part, and despite the new compulsions that had come with the change, Twilight hadn't once tried to take advantage of her position as Rarity's Goddess. There was also the fact that she felt... free in a way. Powerful. Like she could do anything she wanted.
Like she never had to worry about anything ever again.
She loved that feeling, but in truth, it also scared her. There was a lot about her situation that scared her if she thought about it too hard. She remembered looking on as all her friends were slaughtered by the Dead Goddess' pet back in the library.
She remembered feeling as though she should be horrified or traumatized but unable to muster even the slightest bit of empathy. Granted she knew it would all work out in the end and, in the end, she was proven right. Regardless, the change in her mental state regarding certain things was still disconcerting, to say the least.
Ultimately, despite the nightmarish circumstances, she was coping with the changes and in her personal opinion, she'd been coping rather well. Then it came time to make sure her little sister was sheltered from whatever storm was coming. She hadn't seen the filly all day, but knew she'd be in the crowd somewhere once the Summer Sun Celebration started.
Sure enough, she'd found Sweetie Belle stuffing as many cakes and cookies as she could fit in her mouth at the snack bar alongside two other fillies. Rarity had approached without hesitation, thinking nothing of how her eldritch aura would be perceived by her surprisingly perspicacious sister.
That oversight had resulted in Sweetie Belle's frightened flight from the celebration. Rarity, shocked and more than a little hurt, had followed the scared filly all the way back to Carousel Boutique. There, she was greeted to the sight of her sister running about looking for the 'real Rarity' to warn her of some horrible imposter.
Rarity, not happy with this state of affairs one bit, had gone into the boutique to explain the situation which in turn had led to her current predicament. For the last few minutes, Rarity had to avoid a constant barrage of knick-knacks and smaller furniture thrown by a filly screaming accusations and denials from behind the couch she normally used for... dramatic purposes.
"Sweetie Belle—"
"No!" the filly cried, popping up from behind the couch to lob another pricey vase, "I don't care what you say, there's no way you're Rarity!" she jabbed an accusatory hoof—the one not holding the vase—in Rarity's direction, "I don't know how you moved all that stuff, but I didn't see any magic!"
"Yes, I can see how that would look suspicious, but—" another flex of her will and the incoming vase was placed next to the painting, "—I will admit that extenuating circumstances have changed me rather drastically, but nevertheless, I am Rarity, Sweetie Belle," her expression turned pleading, "I'm still your big sister... is there nothing I can do to convince you of that?"
That seemed to give the filly pause. She frowned, searching her supposed sister's eyes for any tell-tale sign that she was lying. From the moment she'd seen her at the celebration, everything about Rarity had seemed wrong. It hadn't felt like she was looking at a pony at all. It still didn't feel that way even now, but if she was telling truth...
If there was even a chance...
"...When we took that trip to Manehattan with mom and dad three years ago..." Sweetie began, taking a deep breath, "...w-when I got lost and that creepy stallion chased me into that alley," she shuddered at the memory, "when you found me, what did you do?"
Rarity's eyes widened as the memory of that day slammed into her. She hadn't thought the filly even remembered, but thinking on it, of course, she would. It would've been a traumatizing ordeal for a foal. It was a traumatizing ordeal for Rarity herself, one she'd told Sweetie Belle never to speak of again.
She'd never forgotten, and since Sweetie Belle had never once brought the matter up since that day, Rarity had assumed—had hoped rather—that she'd forgotten it, but apparently, that wasn't the case. That Sweetie Belle would bring it up now of all times had caught Rarity so off guard that she was rendered momentarily speechless.
"Rarity," Sweetie Belle pressed, now looking almost as desperate as Rarity had a moment ago, "what did you do?"
"I... Sweetie Belle, I..." Rarity took a step forward, "I told you never to speak of—"
"WHAT DID YOU DO!?"
"I KILLED HIM!" Rarity snarled, her once azure eyes now nothing but bottomless pools of inky black darkness, "that disgusting stallion... that wretched piece of filth... an immoral beast not worthy to be called a pony."
"Killed...?" Sweetie Belle trailed off, her own pale green eyes wide as she stared, horrified but oddly transfixed into the pitch-black darkness of her older sister's eyes, "you... y-you told me you put him to sleep..."
The words just slipped out, but Sweetie Belle knew it had been a lie. In truth, the filly had put the pieces together a long time ago. She was naive like all foals her age, but only to an extent. She was smart enough to read between the lines and loved her sister enough to take her secret to the grave.
Yes, she murdered a pony, but she'd done it to protect her after all... right? After wrestling with herself, she'd finally come to that conclusion, and it was that belief that allow her to keep her mouth shut... but now... now she'd had a chance to hear the truth straight from Rarity's own mouth.
She'd taken that chance. Taken that gamble, and now she was getting her answer for better or for worse.
"He dared to lay his dirty hooves on my little sister... so I killed him," Rarity continued, unaware or uncaring of Sweetie Belle's whispered words. Her mouth twisted into a grim smile as she spoke, "I snapped his rotten neck and threw his carcass in the alleyway dumpster to fester with the rest of the garbage."
That was all Sweetie Belle could take.
She thought she'd be prepared for the answer, and maybe if Rarity—if it had come from her sister—then things might've been different. But this monster with the black eyes and horrible smile? This wasn't her sister. This wasn't Rarity. Maybe it was some evil thing that took over her sister's body and stole her memories.
Sweetie Belle didn't know, but it was clear that Rarity was gone. That, coupled with all the emotions she'd been bottling up about what happened in Manehattan for the last three years, was too much for the filly. With a pitiful wail that cut through Rarity's dark thoughts like a knife, Sweetie Belle ran.
"Sweetie Belle?" Rarity called out, her features that of a normal pony once more, "Sweetie Belle, wait!"
But Sweetie Belle was already off, disappearing into the back and down the short hallway. Rarity winced as she heard what was presumably the door to her sister's room slam a moment later. She raised a hoof, ready to follow after the filly she could hear sobbing from the main room, but thought better of it. The filly was so distraught she hadn't even bothered to escape the house.
"Oh, Sweetie Belle," Rarity whispered, guilt and remorse marking every bit of her features, "I'm so sorry. I wish things didn't have to be this way, I really do, but..."
But this was how things had turned out in the end. For the first time since she'd been Awakened, Rarity desired nothing more at that moment than to go back to the way things were. Go back to who—to what she used to be. She wanted to rush into her sister's room and hold her until she stopped crying.
She wanted to tell her everything was going to be okay because her big sister was here... but she couldn't do that. Not anymore. Even if she was just a normal pony, she wasn't sure if everything would be okay. Too much else had changed. Too much had been revealed and though she didn't know what it would bring, there was a storm coming.
One she wasn't sure even the Dead Goddess could stop.
No, she couldn't comfort Sweetie Belle like she used to anymore, but she could still protect the filly. With her newfound power, she could at least keep her sister from harm. And this time she'd be more careful. Exposing Sweetie Belle to her little 'crime of passion' had been the worst mistake Rarity had ever made.
It was a mistake that haunted her even now, but this time would be different. Rarity swore right then and there that no matter what the near future brought, she'd make sure to keep the coming nightmare far away from Sweetie Belle. No matter what it took or what she had to do.
With that in mind and new determination in her eyes, Rarity gave the hallway one last look before blinking away to join Twilight and the others at Town Hall.
Rarity could only chuckle helplessly at her own naivety.
Sitting there, watching over her sister's twisted and unconscious form in the light of the small sapling's brilliant glow, she'd had plenty of time to think. She'd thought about how she'd left Sweetie Belle all alone, convinced that she would stay put and out of danger.
She had hoped, but no, Sweetie Belle had instead run off somewhere during all the chaos. It was only by miraculous coincidence that she found the filly before those mad beasts had slaughtered and devoured her. She'd been able to deliver sound retribution but could do nothing to stop the horrible mutation her sister had gone through when Equestria was absorbed into the Black Dimension.
She thought about what happened with Twilight and Skal-Gazaath. She'd been made aware of the situation through her link with the Dead Goddess. She was made aware of Twilight's separation from the Goddess and subsequent role as the embodiment of the Element of Magic.
She was aware of Princess Celestia's fate, the concerning and somewhat enigmatic events surrounding Rainbow Dash, and Nel-Baloth's capture of Pinkie. She also knew that Pinkie had something to do with the 'Throne' Rainbow had mentioned during their meeting back in the library.
She didn't quite understand it all just yet, but that didn't matter right now. The only thing that did matter in this moment, was Sweetie Belle. Rarity had begged her Goddess to do something. To do what she couldn't. She'd begged her to save Sweetie Belle. She hadn't said as much, but their link had been enough to convey her feelings as they spoke.
And though they could do nothing to stop the monstrous changes, Twilight and Skal-Gazaath had indeed pulled through in the end. Twilight had brought the remnants of Harmony to the Black Dimension and it was those small but numerous remnants that would allow Sweetie Belle to retain her sanity.
She would still be a pony where it mattered, and that was all Rarity could ask for given the circumstances. She was thankful enough for that, but then her Goddess had told her of her plan to bring Harmony back to Equestria. She'd told Rarity that she had a role in that plan—a significant role at that.
Rarity thought about that plan, about the fact that she could actually make things better. The Awakened mare wasn't sure if she could ever be the same as she was again, but she thought that maybe if all went well, she could at least return Sweetie Belle back to her old filly self again.
That, more than anything, convinced her to go along with the plan. Even then, despite her agreement, she still had reservations about what Skal-Gazaath would make her do now that she was wholly herself again. To her surprise and relief, however, those reservations disappeared once her Goddess had given her her own task.
"We need to get Pinkie back, but in my current state I'm fairly certain facing Nel-Baloth isn't a good idea," she'd said, "I have a few things I need to do before I can make my move but in the meantime, I'm having Lemon Hearts, Minuette, and Twinkleshine to look for Applejack and Fluttershy... assist them if you can, but make sure to keep your sister safe. This world... this is no place for a foal."
Rarity didn't need their bond to hear the sincerity in Skal-Gazaath's voice. There was real emotion there, something she hadn't expected to hear if she was being honest with herself. Knowing who Skal-Gazaath had been before her ascension to an eldritch deity, Rarity supposed it wasn't all that surprising if she really had regained her memories from eons past.
With a plan of action in the works and her Goddess' blessing, all that was left was to tend to Sweetie Belle. Rarity's Awakening had allowed her to retain both her mind and her beautiful equine form, but Sweetie Belle and the other denizens of Equestria—those that had survived—hadn't been so lucky.
The poor filly's body had been turned into something truly strange to behold. The filly now resembled something liken to a malnourished polar bear with short off-white fur and large feathered wings that blackened at the tips. Her face consisted of an elongated snout stuffed full of sharp black teeth and lambent eyes the color of jade.
Oddly enough, she kept the mane, though it was now it was an unkempt mess the same off-white color as the rest of her. The strangest change in Rarity's opinion had to be the digitigrade legs that ended not in paws, but in thick black bird-like talons. The talons looked large enough to support the weight of Sweetie Belle's new body which had somehow grown to twice Rarity's own size.
To anyone who didn't know any better, they'd think Rarity was the one in need of protecting. The idea would've made Rarity laugh if the situation weren't so tragic. Rarity's victims upon entering these darkened lands had found out the hard way that the mare had a monstrous form of her own hidden beneath that pristine white fur.
Rarity thought it rather fitting given what she'd done in the heat of the moment all those years ago. A beautiful maiden hiding a violent, vicious beast within. She laughed again. The laughter was a hollow, bitter thing that died as quickly as it had come. Feeling strangely self-conscious, she busied herself by taking a closer look at her surroundings.
Rarity hadn't seen Twilight in her new form yet. She hadn't shown herself in the crystal sapling, but Skal-Gazaath had been there in her mind to inform her of the changes following the Collapse. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that the Collapse had completely rearranged the world.
Rarity and Sweetie Belle had still been near the boutique when the dimensional barrier had begun falling apart, but as things escalated, the landscape began to shift drastically. It was only by following the nearest pillar of prismatic light that Rarity was able to find one of those crystal saplings and bring her still mutating sister to safety.
Thankfully she'd made it in time, but she'd been so focused on Sweetie Belle that Rarity hadn't actually taken the time to figure out where exactly she'd wound up. She didn't see any landmarks she recognized at first glance. There was no sign of the Everfree Forest, no Carousel Boutique, no Sweet Apple Acres... nothing related to Ponyville in the slightest.
She and Sweetie Belle had ended up in what, at one point, was likely a lovely little prairie but now was nothing more than a lifeless field of dead grass. Although she wasn't sure if it was her imagination, it seemed like the grass around the sapling had regained some of its green hue. The sight brought a brief smile to her face, but it fell soon enough.
"I suppose a bit of reconnaissance is in order," she muttered, her roaming eyes trailing back to her unconscious sister. She frowned, "no... no, that can wait until Sweetie is awake and up to speed. It's going to be hard enough explaining all of this without having to worry about her waking up while I'm gone."
And so, with a sigh, Rarity shifted about, making herself comfortable. She sat by Sweetie Belle's side like a sentinel guarding its sworn charge, her eyes scanning the horizon for any more threats. She'd stay there, waiting as long as she needed to.
She'd ignore the unnerving silence, the eerie broken moon above, the constant worry gnawing at the back of her mind about her Goddess and the fate of her other friends. She'd cast aside her doubt and ignore the memory of her previous failures. She'd ignore the raspy, bone-chilling laughter in the distance—
Rarity's ears perked up and eyes suddenly black as the void snapped in the direction of the sound. It was faint, but she could clearly hear the sound of laughter some distance away. It was a dusty, wheezy sound, like the laugh of an old stallion long past his prime. It didn't come off as threatening or dangerous, and Rarity didn't like that one bit.
She stood up, her eyes never leaving the direction of the laugh as it grew closer and closer. She didn't dare move an inch away from her sister. She'd make no moves until she could get some glimpse of the approaching creature first. It felt as though ages were passing her by as she waited, but eventually, Rarity saw something.
The silhouette of some impossibly tall and lanky biped slowly but surely hobbled its way over a large hill some few dozen yards away. As it got closer, Rarity could just make out the outline of a long coat flapping about. It moved yet closer and the pale moonlight revealed a being dressed head to hoof in what looked like an outfit Rarity had only seen in pre-modern gothic fashion magazines back home.
The creature's long black coat was tattered and torn almost beyond repair, as were the white shirt and dark brown vest beneath. His black leather gloves were fingerless, revealing wizened, withered grey skin. The black trousers were torn completely off at the shins and the black boots looked as though they'd seen endless years of rough travel.
Completing the strange ragged look was a black tricorn hat and a large brown scarf, both of which kept the creature's face shrouded from view. As it moved forward in his awkward stumbling gait, Rarity could also make out a long cane in one hoof—no, a hand since it had fingers. The creature looked as though it was trying to use the cane to balance itself, but that didn't seem to stop it from tripping over its own two hooves—or feet rather.
"That's close enough," Rarity called out, hoping the creature could be reasoned with, "not a step further if you please."
To her surprise, the creature complied, coming to a stumbling stop just a few yards away. It stood there swaying as if on some unseen breeze. Its laughter had even stopped, though its breathing was ragged and raspy. Rarity had gotten it to stop, but she didn't know how to proceed from here. Since it wasn't talking she decided to start their colloquy.
"Who, or rather what are you?" she asked carefully, "you'll have to forgive me if I sound rude, but circumstances require that I remain cautious of... strangers."
The raspy, wheezy laugh came again.
"Oh no, no it's quite alright," came a voice as old and dry as a desert, "to be honest, I hadn't expected to find anyone out in these fields, let alone a beast as sane as you yourself seem to be. Allow me to introduce myself properly."
In a motion that surprised Rarity yet again, the creature shifted his weight. One hand on his cane and the other sweeping forward, he gave a deep bow.
"I am but a doddering old fool wandering these dead lands in search of an impossible dream," he claimed, "though I was known by many names in the past, you may call me... Barbatum."
With visible effort, he slowly straightened up and though she couldn't see his face, Rarity got the impression he was giving her a toothy smile.
"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Rarity Belle."