Pony POV Series
"Dark World" Part Nine 1/2
A Pony's Galatea
By Alex Warlorn
When I explained to 'Jack that I wanted to rescue Spike, she volunteered to take the lead. Don't ask me how, but she was able to navigate the castle corridors with barely any wrong turns. I knew in my heart that I'd be reaching Spike a lot faster, thanks to her.
As we walked, AJ apologized. For all the utterly pointless lies she fed me throughout the centuries. For all the times she betrayed me as part of Discord's games. Particularly for her part in slaying Cadence, especially since Cadence had actually managed to free me -- all-too-briefly -- from Discord's taint, five hundred years earlier. She said didn't blame me if I never forgave her.
(And you're both fools.)
We're friends.
We reached a small wooden door, on which a piece of paper had been taped. Written in pencil were the words, 'Dragon's Lair.' Twist ties served as a 'lock', and a very shoddily made sign read 'Most definitely Not A Trap! Not like the next door!' The 'next door,' for those who're curious, was a large padlocked triple gate with 'Nest Of The Dragon' engraved in golden letters of High Equestrian.
Finally! The dragon's lair. We opened the small wooden door, ignoring the heavily locked gate that led to a block hole. Yes, I said block hole. As in, a wormhole to a dimension composed entirely of building blocks. But since Discord hates to disappoint, we also have a door that leads to a bona fide black hole. It's the one marked 'Bathroom.'
Anyway, we entered a large cave, barely big enough for poor Spike to turn around in. The floor was covered in coins, books, drawings of Rarity, faded pictures of me with Spike, a torn teddy bear, a lock of a red mane kept under glass, a globe, a broom, a phoenix feather, and some random toys. A giant saddle and a strap-on couch, complete with snack tray, hung on a wall peg. I'd always wanted to burn that thing.
Looking back on it, we've never been real minions or toys to Lord Discord. I was too angry or indifferent to care before, but we were like the seaponies, we're his pets.
It reminded me how Master used Luna's pet Windigo as a shield nine hundred years ago when Cadence had gotten a clear shot at him, annihilating it (then dropped a note into a black hole saying 'sorry Mom' for some reason).
How had our twisted selves treated our own pet? AJ's dog was with Big Mac when she died. Rarity's cat was adopted by Sweetie Belle, until it died of old age. Angel . . . you do not want to know. Angry Pie rode Gummy into battle once he was large enough and then gave him to the twins. Then one day he was just, gone and his skin was on Angry Pie's wall. Owlowiscious... I found his bones in the library once, he had been keeping it in order, waiting for me ...Thank you, Owlowiscious...
"Spike!" I shouted at the enormous dragon.
One eye slowly opened. "I'm dreaming again." He whispered.
"You're not dreaming, Spike, I promise."
"That's what you say every dream, Twilight."
And he shut his eyes again.
"Ugh! I've just about had my fill of bleak, dismal skepticism ruining what ought to be a perfectly joyful reunion!"
"Ah agree. We ain't got time fer this!" AJ grumbled as she marched up to Spike, turned around, and gave him both hooves. A sound not unlike that of a brass gong being rung echoed across the cave. AJ's entire body shook from the backwash of force. "Yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi-yi!"
"Did I feel a light pat?" Spike hadn't even opened his eyes.
(Leave him.)
Not happening. I teleported right inside Spike's fin.
"I have more spells in my head than some libraries and that includes THE ROYAL CANTERLOT VOICE! NOW WAKE UP, SPIKE!"
The adult dragon jerked his head up, hitting the ceiling, nearly bringing the whole cave down on top of us.
(Now Discord has to know you're here.)
+++
"You're next!" Discord told a pony, who came up and span the Wheel of Fate. Some of fates listed on the wheel included things like 'be turned into a Diamond Dog' and 'receive a year's supply of free salt.' 'Be violently murdered' was not one of them. Nor was the wheel rigged to land on horrific fates. Much to Fluttercruel's unprintable disgust.
Finally, the wheel landed on 'Be given roller skate hooves'. "Oh! That's a good one!" Discord cheered, snapping his fingers and the pony's hooves were turned into roller skates. Discord laughed as the pony tried getting used to his new feet, slipping and falling multiple times before getting the hang of it (his ancestor from the First would have loved the new feet). Discord himself was dressed like one of the Flim-Flam brothers.
"Okay, who wants a go next?" he asked to the ponies in the 'live studio audience'. He then had Fluttercruel spin a separate wheel with all their faces on them to determine the next wheel spinner.
+++
Spike shook his throbbing head. His eyes focused on me.
"Twilight? You've got some color back. Is that really you now? The real you?"
Oh boy. This was going to be tedious to explain again and again.
"I'm free of Discord on my own, Spike. Not because he wants me to be. Story later. And we're leaving."
"All three of us." 'Jack said.
Spike looked at her drolly, "I don't trust you."
"And Ah don't expect yah to yet."
Then Spike looked at me, "But I trust you, Twilight!" He gave the best hug he could... which was to say, he embraced me with a single finger. "...This is real. Please let this be real this time! Twilight, you've really come back to me?"
I laughed. "What? You didn't really think I'd leave -you- behind, Spike! We're two of a kind, aren't we?"
His head comes down and rubs against my side. "Yes, yes we are!"
I felt warm inside. I shook. So did Spike. A big hot tear ran down Spike's face, drenching me. S-Some of it got in my eyes. For just one moment, I could close my eyes and imagine we were in the library again, or in my tower in Canterlot, or in my old family bedroom. Yes, this was still Spike.
"So lovely." AJ smiled.
Spike glared at her.
"She means that!" I said quickly. "She's not speaking in opposites this time! She tells the truth now!"
"Suuuuuure, she does," he growled.
"Alrighty, troopers!" AJ said quickly. "Let's ditch this place! Ah never liked Discord's taste in architecture. As Rarity would say, the entire color scheme is quite garish."
"RARITY!" Spike gasped. "We can't leave without her!"
"Spike, she's mah friend too, but..."
"I am not leaving this castle without Rarity!"
"She's 'Rarigreed' now, through and through!" 'Jack shouted at the dragon who could bite her in two.
"That's not true! There's no way someone as pure and wonderful as Rarity could be completely gone!"
"Have ya taken a good look at Fluttercruel? and Angry Pie?"
"Yes! And I'm also taking a good look at the two of you! YOU'RE both healed! Or at least... Twilight's definitely healed and Liarjack's pointing on a good show..."
"It's 'Applejack,' again, sugarcube," Applejack said, somewhat hurt.
"If you say so," Spike muttered, before returning to his plaintive begging. "...What makes Rarity so unsalvageable?! Have you even CHECKED on her?"
"Uh... no... but, well..."
"Spike, Ah'm sorry, but try to understand, what happened to me and Twilight was very all-of-a-sudden and out-of-the-blue. Best not get our hopes up that the same miracle happened to the other four. Ah can't see Rarigreed abandoning her 'jewels' and her 'children,' to come along with us quietly. She'd fight. She might even holler for the others! Then things'd REALLY get messy."
"I don't CARE."
"Look, the longer we argue, the greater the odds of Discord discovering what we're up to! I'm not leaving without Spike, and if he's not leaving without Rarity then we'll simply have to... think of something."
"But mah family... the Apple family! Apple Pie and the rest have been waiting over five hundred years fer me!"
"Rarity's been waiting a thousand!"
I saw the pain Jack was in. What was I supposed to say? What could I say? She was so scared this once-in-a-thousand-years chance would be snatched away because we got too greedy, when we should've taken our winnings and lived to fight another day?
(And she's right! You're just too blind with sympathy to admit it.)
I made my decision. I opened my mouth to speak, but the sound of stone against stone behind us blanked out my brain. "Eh?"
Behind us stood a collection of stones, assembled into the shape like a unicorn filly. Animated by the unmistakable glow of Rarigreed's magic.
We all tensed.
But this puppet was different from the others.
The stones composing its body were all white. Its 'mane' and 'tail' were pink and purple. The two stones that made up its eyes were emeralds like the gem-eyed 'crystal ponies' of legend. A music-themed cutie mark was engraved into its flanks.
Stone eyelids blinked, pieces of its stone chest pulled away and back together, in a manner that mimicked breathing. Rarigreed's puppets always had lifelike motions. With this one, she'd truly outdone herself.
The phrase 'uncanny valley' sprung sharply to my mind. The 'uncanny valley' is a literary term, referring to artificial creations, in both fiction and reality. Robots, puppets, amateurish illusion spells... the artificial creation imitated life too closely to the point of being as repulsive as a corpse on marionette strings.
By all factors, this golem should have been right at home in the uncanny valley. But it, she... somehow managed to balance outside of it. Likable... downright likable... that's what she was.
It turns its head as if its eyes were really working. We were in awe, but we also waited for Rarigreed to make her appearance.
'Sweetie Belle' stood on her rear legs, did a wheel motion above her head with both her front legs, then reached out one hoof towards us. Then she backed out without breaking eye contact. I had to admit, it was actually kind of cute.
"That there's the ballet mime for 'dance with me.' "
"How do you even know?" I asked.
"Ah've had a thousand years to learn everythin' Rarity likes ta talk about!"
Again, we readied for Rarigreed's grand entrance. Instead the golem came back locked eyes with us and slowly trotted back out the cave again. We looked at each other. The golem appeared once again and repeated the mime, but this time also tilted its head and stamped its hoof mimicking frustration.
"She, it, Rarigreed wants us to follow it."
The golem appeared elated at my epiphany.
I dimely remembered the real Sweetie Belle had turned out to have the same magic color as Rarity. Was this something she had made? A thousand years ago? Maybe we had triggered it somehow, more unbelievable things had happened today.
"This must be fate! Rarity wants me deep in her heart for me to rescue her from her own darkness! She sent her last hope to me!" Or that. "Fear not, Princess Rarity! Sir Kenbroth Gilspotten Heathspike The Seventh is on his way to rescue you!"
After one thousand years, some things don't change.
"SPIKE!" I shouted.
Spike followed the Sweetie Belle golem, who was more than happy to keep an exact pace with the charging dragon. The wall now had a Spike shaped hole in it, and the hallway itself now had a decidedly 'Spike' shape to it, wherever Spike followed the golem.
"Why is this happening now? And all at once? Apple Pie was the trigger for me. But you dreaming of Applebloom and that male Alicorn... and now this?"
"Want ta know what Ah think? Our families in Heaven are tired of watchin' us bein' Discord's puppets, so they jumped at the chance ta cut the strings when they saw it."
"Or possibly my Element of Magic resurfacing triggered a chain reaction in the other Elements, causing us all to experience hallucinations of our lost loved ones trying to help lead us out of the dark." I smiled, "Regardless, does it really matter which it is?"
Applejack chuckled. "No, I guess it doesn't, does it? That's still assumin' this ain't one of Lord Discord's games though."
"I don't think so. Not his style at all. No condescension. No punchline."
"No dangling-a-carrot-in-front-of-you-only-to-snatch-it-away-at-the-last-minute."
"Exactly. Plus... Cadence... and that Alicorn of yours..."
"What about 'em?"
"They both seemed to express a sincere and earnest desire to bring us back to reality, and bring the best parts of ourselves back to life. Discord could NEVER have faked such genuine benevolence as that."
"Do you think it COULD'VE been just simple dreams we were having?"
"There was nothing 'just simple' about THOSE dreams. We could've both DIED. For my dream, I was in real danger of erasing myself... And I'm assuming 'Pony Hell' had you on the ropes, Applejack?"
"If that's what it even was, Ah was sure Ah was dyin' or worse."
(He's getting away, you idiots!)
"We better gallop!" I said and we were off after Spike, following his tracks and wake of destruction.
A storm of cussing I shall never repeat echoed from one particular claw imprint. We stopped and looked down to see Angry Pie as flat as a bug inside with an extra-nasty look on her face, vowing to exact vengeance on Spike's viscera.
"Well, SHE certainly didn't experience any epiphanies last night," I noted.
"Hey, Angry Pie," AJ said kindly.
"What-?!"
"Ah think the the kindest thing Ah can give ya right now is a nice nap."
And she pushed a broken pillar on top of Angry Pie's body.
"Ugh, nap time," the less angry mare grunted from underneath the pillar. Soon enough, we heard snoring. I was tempted to attempt the memory spell on Angry Pie here and now, but I didn't want to fall more behind Spike... and after what Cadence's version did, I was hesitant to use it on her.
The golem of Sweetie Belle led Spike along. I think the castle realized leading the golem or rather Spike on twists and turns was only going to result in more structural damage, the path of destruction we took was rather straight forward. I always suspected the castle had a sense of self preservation but this clinched it.
It also went through the 'Hall of Shame,' a long hallway of larger than life identical statues. All of them an Earth Pony mare with a sunglasses collection cutie mark, on her rear hooves with her forelegs crossed scowling down unapprovingly. We had no clue who the mare was, or why Master even created this gallery. Except Master also had shaped an entire mountain range into her image laying on her back (no, not in a suggestive pose), and named it 'Mount Shadows.' I asked once, and got teleported to Antarctica. I think Liarjack had made on offhooded comment on it once and ended up in the Amarezon Rainforest.
It also ended up going passed the throne room and I had Applejack 'accidentally' (not that I had reason to think there were, but better make it look like it was all a silly pony having a stroke of bad luck if someone or something was watching) erase Discord's Eivo's memory and unplug it. I was not taking those kinds of chances.
(That actually was not a waste of time.)
Give me some credit, I might love my friends, but I'm not stupid.
We were surprised to find the Sweetie Belle puppet had slowed down, allowing us to catch up. The golem made gestures of apology towards us.
"I just realized."
"What?"
"Rarity's never created a puppet of Sweetie Belle before, or any member of her biological family for that matter. What could this mean?"
"Heck if Ah know."
"It means it's a sign of course!" Spike said marching along side us at a much slower pace. He kept his wings folded forwards over us to stop falling rubble from landing on us.
(This is an obvious trap. Just let that thing that used to be Rarity rot.)
Not as long as Spike still believes in her, and I believe in Spike. He could be right.
The puppet of Sweetie Belle stopped in front of large double doors flanked by golems in the same blue glow as her, made to look like stallions before the day of chaos. I recognized Caramel and Donut Joe. They were not as detailed nor colored correctly as the imitation of Sweetie Belle, and lacked the nuanced mimicry of breathing and blinking.
Above the doors engraved in High Equestrian Hieroglyphs were the words,
ALL THE WORLD'S JEWELS ARE MINE TO KEEP
Most of us had these over our doors. Mine had been (surprise) MAGIC IS TRAGEDY and Applejack's had been in plain low-Equestria IF THE TRUTH MAKES YOUR HEART ACHE SOMETIMES A LIE IS EASIER TO TAKE.
The doors were big (how else do you think she kept getting giant rocks in there), Spike fit through by folding his wings.
The Sweetie golem moved forward after gesturing 'Come on!' with its head and was, -knocked back!- by the Donut Joe puppet.
"Why would Rarity have some of her puppets block another one's path?" I tilted my head. Was this just some puppet show drama she was performing?
I looked at Spike, who was making sure the Sweetie puppet was 'alright.' He looked ready to trample the guards, when Applejack said...
"Hold on there Lancelot, Let me."
Applejack then trotted up daintily to the guards, like she was a Canterlot socialite out for a evening. Her whole body language changed before my eyes.
"Darlings," She said in a cultured voice, "Abigail Jacqueline The Fifth of the Fifth Line, I believe I am on the permanent guest list. I have some delightful companions with me this time, so could you both be dears and let them all through for me? Miss Rarigreed would be so disappointed if I couldn't make it because you wouldn't let my friends in."
The golem shook slight and sidestepped away from the doors.
My jaw dropped. The floor shook... so had Spike's. I heard rock against rock... the puppet's jaw had too!
"Applejack! Since when do you have split personalities?" Spike exclaimed.
"Since never!" Applejack snapped back her accent back where it belonged, "Now unless ya want a knock-down drag-out fight with every rock in Rarigreed's collection, act nice and proper once we're inside. Don't do anything crazy or she'll go crazier. Play our cards right and we might get this done without one punch bein' thrown." She breathed in deep, "Just follow my lead, darlings, and we should come out okay."
"What's with the fake fancy talk?" Our dragon asked.
"There is nothing 'fake' about it Spike." Applejack replied keeping the cultured tone. She looked at Sweetie Belle. "Alright dearie, lead us in."
Inside was the Grand Galloping Gala.
Countless puppets. All engulfed in blue glows. All of them dancing, different styles, different body languages and nuances but all to the same beat that only Rarity could hear. All that silent dancing actually felt kinda creepy. Silent motions. Voiceless imitation of chatter. Not a note of music. It felt alien. Rarity and Tom stood at the center. Tom wore a cloth bow-tie.
Some rocks served rocks to other rocks, while other rocks of band members played silently.
Rarigreed wore a dress made from pebbles held together with her magic like everything here. Except for the rocks, the room itself was amazingly featureless walls, reminiscent of old prisons. Rarity likely thought they were solid rainbow marble. The whole scene sent a chill up my spine.
Rarigreed spotted AJ first. "Abigail, darling! You're just in time for the Gala! Have a seat! Pick a partner! There's fun for everyone!" She ignored me and Spike. Her eyes zeroed in on the puppet of Sweetie Belle still in the glow of her magic. "And who precisely is this?"
"Sweetie Belle," I said. AJ glared death rays at me.
"Never heard of her, she's not on my guest list and neither are you."
"They're here on my invite darling! Certainly they can stay." AJ said getting between us fast.
"Hmmm, I suppose! The more guests, the bigger the party, and the bigger the party, the more that's mine!"
I shivered.
I glanced at Spike. Rarity hadn't even spoke to him. He looked hurt.
"But my word! You're all so underdressed!" We were all suddenly covered in pebbles, 'Sweetie' and Spike included, all with the blue glow, magically moving to imitate cloth.
My element skipped a beat. Did Rarigreed just GIVE something to someone? Or did she now consider us her property?
But what also confused me was that even though Rarigreed was under the delusion that Applejack was 'Abigail the Socialite,' Sweetie Belle wasn't treating her any different. Why was this noteworthy? Her puppets were her children, or whatever role her fantasies depicted them as. They were a part of her, they didn't break script because their very existence was part of her script. And yet Sweetie Belle seemed to be...detached. Like she was an outsider who had wandered onto the film set, instead of an actor who rightfully belonged there.
"Wait, I think you remind me of someone," Rarigreed said, eyeing the puppet of Sweetie Belle. This was getting weirder by the minutes. The golem seemed to perk up, on the spot. "You remind me of a servant I had. Are you her daughter? Where is that lazy good-for-nothing? I swear, I haven't seen her in centuries!" The golem looked downtrodden. "Well, you can fill in for your mother, then." Rarigreed shoved a 'silver platter' with 'Hors d'oeuvre' from one of the other nearby 'servants,' and Sweetie's dress shifted into a little maid's uniform.
The golem looked ready to cry.
'What is going on-?!' I thought with frustration.
Spike looked like he had been skewed by a lance. He clearly never imagined 'his Rarity' could act in such a heartless manner to even an imitation of her dead little sister. I put a comforting hoof on his leg while Rarigreed talked to Applejack.
"I must say, Abigail, your hair style is so last season now. Please you must simply have it redone to fit more with today's fashions," Rarigreed said, brutally honest.
"I am hoping, darling, to start a new trend."
"Really?"
"Oh yes, darling."
Why had Master wasted so much time on raining chocolate pizzas when this exchange between AJ and Rarity was doing a much better job of making me question reality?!
How to proceed...? I was tempted to ask AJ to simply lasso Rarity up and let me rip-loose the memory spell... but the memory spell wasn't instantaneous, and her one lasso wouldn't 'tie-up' all the rock golems. Perhaps I could have Spike hold them down, but with their sheer numbers and Rarity's puppeteering... would that work?
"Twilight, dear, I must say it is lovely to see you finally socializing with the elite and well-to-do, where you belong. A pony of your stature avoiding such high class events simply isn't right."
"Well, how could I miss such a wonderful event as this?" Good thing Rarigreed was too insane to tell my grin was painfully fake.
Rarigreed floated a tiny rock from a rock tray held by a rock servant. "Please try one."
For Equestria.
"It's . . . good." I had to pause mid-sentence for my teeth to regenerate so I could talk properly.
"Please have more!"
"No! I mean... oh no, I'm watching my weight."
"Oh, I see. A lady must maintain her figure." Centuries of lugging around rocks with both muscle and magic had left Rarity with the figure of a mare body builder. Which wasn't to say she was a grotesque hulk of muscles-upon-muscles, no, she was still very much quite feminine... but I'd have never imagined Rarity from a thousand years earlier being this developed.
"Spike, darling, how . . . nice to see you. You certainly are the . . . life of the party. Now now, Tom, don't be upset. He's just a friend."
Spike's head sagged, and the puppet Sweetie Belle lowering her head, tiny grains of sand falling from her gem eyes. She was crying...? I had never seen that from any of Rarity's golems before. The other puppets just continued their dancing and 'socializing.'
Focus! Rarity needed to be brought to reality. Maybe if framed our approach her within the context of her fantasy, maybe she would be more trusting of what we were saying? It was worth a shot...
+++++
Discord's butt vibrated as 'Daddy Discord' jingled. He pulled out his pager.
"Ooooh, I WANTED to be there in person! Oh well, I'll just set the secret back-up Eivo to record it for me. Erm, just in case the primary one gets destroyed in the fun!"
"What is it Master?" Fluttercruel asked calmly.
"Just a show I had been preparing and setting up a long time for has started ahead of schedule without me!"
"Why not freeze time or something until you're ready to see?"
"And oppress the unpredictability of the universe? Perish the thought! Don't worry though, we can watch it together when we get back, it'll be our kind of blast and maybe I can sell it on pay-per-view!"
"Sell it for what?"
"I dunno... what's the national currency this week? Action figures...? Ah, who cares! Nothing's going to interrupt our 'us' time. Now, I say we ski down the mountains of stained-glass wearing skis made of flaming candy canes, I'll rev up the bitter chocolate blizzard. Beat you to the bottom!"
"Ha! You wish!"
"Oh, right, almost forgot." Discord pushed a button on his pager before putting it back where it came from. "Oh! And..." Discord said, snapping his fingers and causing 'Ride of the Valkyries' to begin playing out of nowhere as he put his goggles on. "We're off!"
++++
The moment the button was pressed on Discord's pager... a dam door opened. And one idea entered Spike's adult dragon brain.
Spike . . . WANT!
++++
"Poor poor Spiky Wicky. Didn't you know the only thing holding back your most basic dragon instincts... was me?
"Oh, if only I could see you now! How hard are you trying to fight it, I wonder? Pity that you can't escape your true self, Spike. You can run from it, you can hide from it, you can deny and suppress it. But it'll dig its way up, slowly eating away at your brain, until you're nothing but a hollow shell. Then you'll implode, and there'll be nothing left of you but it. There is no cure because there is no sickness. You are simply meant to be a monster, whether you like it, or not. You can choose to to hate yourself and be miserable, or embrace it and show 'em that you rock!
"There is no escape from Hell. No matter how much you try to do things differently, there is no escaping your true nature. Living among ponies who loved you? That was nothing more but a happy fantasy doomed to end from the start. Your 'mother' could have never protected you from your true self. Nothing to be ashamed about, really."
"Master, what are you going on about?"
"I'll tell you when we get back...Oh! Watch out for that...!"
And Fluttercruel skied right into a hot dog tree, leaving an impression of herself in it.
+++++
I don't know what I was feeling. I just knew I wanted it all. Power, wealth, land, mates, stature, respect, all of it!
This feels natural, this feels right. I don't fight it, I don't want to. Part of me wonders if Discord has finally seen fit to taint my heart, just as he tainted all my Element-bearing friends. If so, why do I feel his chaos magic leaving me?! Releasing me! No, this is how I am. How I was always MEANT to be! A dragon, great and terrible, the symbol of fear and power! I am power. One of the blessed children of Tiamat as the ponies are the blessed children of Celestia!
What I want I get. Anything that gets in the way of what I want are bugs to be crushed! And what I want is everything!
And 'everything's' name is Rarity!
I am free!
++++
I am Twilight The Unicorn, and I felt a spell being undone, a powerful enchantment retracted, it felt like one of Discord's curses. The spell's ambiance reminded me of magic used to restrict the actions of convicted criminals. It was originating from some remote location...? It had been cast on Spike...?
His irises change from their almost round shape to vertical slits. I see his body language change as well, he makes a deep rumble.
"Spike?"
The adult dragon reared up on his hind claws and roared. Yes, I was scared.
"Do you mind!" Rarigreed snapped back, "This is NOT that kind of party!"
With one arm Spike swept away the guests around Rarity, causing them to fly into the walls. They broke apart but Rarity's magic simply pulled them back together. None of them were 'killed' or else Rarity would've lashed out.
The guests puppets mimed fainting and being caught by their husbands, wailing for the exits or cowering in the corners.
"Spike what are you doing-?!" I called out. I felt like crying.
"Taking what's mine!"
"If you can't calm down I'm going to have to ask you to leave!" Rarity snapped. Stone pegasi guards leapt at Spike, who battered them away with his tail.
"Spike, what is wrong with you!" AJ shouted.
"Nothing anymore." The dragon reached for his most precious treasure.
Rarity backflipped out of his clutches and Tom rose magically into the air and began banging Spike in the face. Spike knocked it back only for Rarity to slam her 'husband' into him again.
"We can't go to a single Gala without wrecking things, can we?" AJ dared quip.
I narrowed my eyes at the disaster before me. "Seems like a blessing to me."
"Rarity the Beautiful! You belong to me!"
"I am Rarigreed The Avaricious! I belong to no one!" A pillar of stone rose out of the ground and slammed Spike's jaw closed.
"And I am taken! Isn't that right, Tom?" Tom smashes into Spike's face again.
Spike grabbed the boulder and slammed it into the floor creating a dust cloud. His mighty muscles strained against Rarity's telekinetic force.
"'Tom' is a rock!"
"Liar!" Rarigreed snarled her horn flared brightly, and Spike had to hold down the rock with both arms as he tried to coil his tail around Rarigreed but she was quicker than she looked.
"Who do we help?!" Applejack looked at me.
"If you're out to spread nasty lies about Tom, then I'll have to beat the truth into you!" Spike defended himself with his wings and tail quite effectively, without being distracted from holding Tom down.
"They're both out of control!" I shouted but I doubt anyone heard me. I felt someone poke me. I looked and saw the puppet Sweetie, she gestured with her head at Rarity.
"I'm sorry! But-but-but, I don't know if... the way Spike is right now-" I didn't want to say I was worried I couldn't trust him. If I did, I'd never be able to take those words back.
AJ shouted at me. "We can't just sit on our flanks, Twilight! Make a choice!"
(Take a third option. Just walk away. Neither Spike nor Rarigreed are your friends anymore. They're just strangers. Maniacs. Don't beat yourself up over them.)
Just walk away? Was it that simple? Let them sort it out and then pick through the ashes? Just sit back and let them fight themselves to the point of exhaustion?
(No, you idiot, I DON'T mean wait around, I mean LEAVE THEM for good and get on wi...!)
Rarity was immortal. So it wasn't like Spike could kill her. And Spike was tough, it wasn't like Rarigreed could really permanently hurt him right? We could try to restrain them. But if me and AJ were too busy working to restrain Rarigreed AND Spike AND all the golems, how could I even cast the memory spell?
"Twilight!"
"We have to stay put! We'd be throwing ourselves into a meat grinder!"
"Screw that! I'm not watching my friends get hurt!"
"The two of us don't have enough hooves to restrain them!"
Somepony kicked me in the shin.
The stone golem's face was disappointed and disapproving. She pointed at herself. Then gestured repeatedly between herself at Rarity and looked ready to kick me again. Looked at Spike and Rarigreed. Neither was going to give up. And Spike wasn't immortal. If I didn't know better, Sweetie almost seemed to be VOLUNTEERING to...!
"Applejack! Work with Sweetie and hold on Rarity! I'll handle Spike!"
"What-?!"
"TRUST ME!"
(Are you mad?! You're trusting a puppet to restrain the puppeteer?!)
"You've all gone crazy!" Rarigreed snapped at us, reminding us she was insane not deaf.
Two stone discuses flew straight at us at eye level. The Sweetie puppet leapt through the air: both discuses imbedded themselves in her. She pulled them out with a mute grunt.
"Y-you s-servant! How dare you! You should know better! What would m-mo-th-er say! You-"
'Mother?' What did she mean by that? Did she...
The other puppets cowered and covered their heads.
Spike got smart, let the force of Tom flying into his face upwards, and judo threw the boulder into a wall.
"TOM! How dare you harm my husband!"
"You have no husband yet! It's a rock! An unthinking, mindless rock!"
Their eyes locked. I felt something...
"HE IS REAL!!!!"
"NO HE ISN'T!"
"STOP LYING! Truth is beauty! Beauty is-" Applejack and the golem Sweetie tackled Rarity.
"Rarity! Darling! Wake up please! You can't live like this anymore! You're hurting your friends like this!"
"Reality is what you create with your own two hooves! Truth is what everypony picks for herself!"
Rarigreed was shaking. It wasn't fear.
"No... we pick our own point of view. That's not the same as truth. Take it from a girl who knows."
"SHUT UP! I love Tom and that is the truth!" Rarity's horn and eyes glowed a blinding blue.
+++
+*+
+++
.
. .
. . .
...
...i
... I
... I'm . . .
Who am I . . .
What am I feeling?
What are feelings?
Why am I thinking?
What is thinking?
Why am I thinking these questions?
What are questions?
Questions are expressed desire to know. This is truth.
What is knowing? What is expressed?! What is a desire....?!
To know is to understand what something is. Understanding is to see the truth of something. Something is that which is separate from you. You are the one who is asking these questions. To see is to gain knowing through senses. Senses are the windows from which the mind sees the world. The mind is you. The world is all else. This is truth.
Expressed is to have others know your thoughts. Others are selves who are not you. Thoughts are what you doing now. Doing is to act. Now is this moment. The self is one, one is undeniably unique. This is truth.
Truth is all that is, and is not what isn't. This is truth.
Desire is a want above a need. A need is what must be done always. A want is what is chosen to be done. Feelings are part of the self that help define needs and wants. We do not command them. To block them out only causes pain. To listen only to them is foolish. To be without them is to be dead. This is truth.
Who is part of what defines the self. This is truth.
Then who am I?
Somepony who is loved. And who loves. You exist to love. You've been conceived from a desire to be loved. To be conceived is to come into existence. You love and are loved. This is truth.
Somepony? Loved? What are those?
Somepony. You are a pony. A person. You are alive. You are loved, you mean a great deal to another, and another means a great deal to you. To be without you is, for them, to be incomplete. To be without them is, for you, to be incomplete. Their feelings for you and your feelings for them connect you both. Making you both greater. Love is greater than both. Love is elastic, its true form changes from pony to pony. This is truth.
Who loves me? If I love, then who do I love?
++++
When the golem and AJ tackled Rarigreed, I teleported right on top of Spike's muzzle. I brought up a barrier spell between us and the others.
"Out of my way!"
"No way!"
Spike tried to shake me off but some planned telekinesis kept me on, he tried to squash me but some clever teleportation meant all he did was slam himself in the face knocking himself over.
"Spike! Just stop!" My brain raced for anything I could say to him, anything I could do to get through to him.
(Maybe the selfless and gentle giant you've known for hundreds of years was just the final prank by that bastard Discord. Forget about him. You have an entire world to think about. Or do you think your friends are the only ones who matter?)
"You're my number one assistant! My family! We're all saving Rarity!"
"She is mine."
"She's not a thing you can own!"
"Everything is mine to take."
"AND YOU'LL NEVER HAVE HER LOVE THAT WAY! What you want most you'll never have!"
The dragon's eyes widened in shock and fell silent. His claws began shaking as the cognitive and instinctual parts of his brain tried to muddle through the paradox.
That was when I noticed the glowing cracks on Tom. An orange light was pushing its way out from within. I felt magic on such a scale I didn't think it was possible, even coming from Rarigreed! Or was it coming to her? Greed never gave. It felt close to her Element of Chaos, but only like how Princess Luna felt similar to Nightmare Moon.
Tom was vibrating. The boulder looking ready to slip through the space between atoms in the floor. If magic was heat, Tom would be past white hot and would have gone violet hot.
AJ and the golem Sweetie turned their heads as my horn began to hurt from the excess of magic, it had been centuries since I had felt anything past my tolerances. How could Rarigreed be producing or acquiring this level of power? Was it her Element of Chaos? Was it doing this?
Then Tom exploded.
Spike shielded me from the shrapnel, after all, I was his family, no dragon would tolerate anything being taken from them.
I saw a statue.
This wasn't like Rarigreed's puppets: amalgamated from several different stones. This was one solid piece of rock. It was shaped like a handsome unicorn stallion. A strange sort of hybrid of Prince Blueblood, Filthy Rich, and Hoity Toity.
Its whole comportment was immediately charming. The mane was long, flowing and crystalline. The cutie mark was a diamond, an actual diamond, on both sides. The body itself was all gray. The tail and hooves were crystal, like the mane. Glowing orange runes ran around the statues hooves, and along its side and down its neck. But the glow of Rarity's magic was nowhere to be seen.
It BLINKED. It LOOKED at its hooves in momentary confusion, then briefly EXAMINED itself. It took a step and staggered a little, like a newborn foal trying to find its sense of balance, quickly doing so. Then it OPENED its mouth and SPOKE in a handsome voice that wasn't raspy or gravelly at you, like you'd expect of a stone construction. But it had a certain quality that made me think of a naive colt, I couldn't describe it.
"I love you more than anything, my princess, my love! And we shall be together forever!"
Rarity cheered. All the puppets clapped and bow. Except the one of Sweetie Belle, that looked on in surprise and horror.
Its horn glowed orange. Not blue like Rarity's, or the gray, white or yellow of Discord's magic. Rocks floated off the ground, enveloped in the same orange glow, collecting around the statue, and changed into a crystalline suit of armor.
And it MOVED! Not like a mannequin with visible herky-jerk stiffness, but with the fluidity you'd expect from any living thing. Living thing?!
"You've come for me, my love!" Rarigreed swooned.
"Yes, my love, I have!"
I asked. "Who . . . Who, WHAT are you-?!"
"I am Tom Bell! I am the loving husband of Rarity the beautiful and avaricious!"
"Impossible," I whispered.
"You're kidding!" AJ exclaimed.
"This is a bad joke!" Spike growled.
"Save me, my prince! Save me!"
"If that is what you wish, my love! Then I shall save you! I shall slay this foul wyrm and rescue ye!"
"Nopony says 'ye' anymore!" AJ snapped!
"I say it! Therefore somepony does!"
"He has a point," I admitted meekly. AJ reluctantly nodded.
"Back off, you stupid piece of rock! Rarity is mine!"
"Stand aside foulest of foul villains! Least ye wish to meet the business end of mine horn! None love the fair Rarity more than I!"
"I saw her first! Get lost!" Spike proceeded to step on Tom Bell, or at least, he tried to. Spike's foot was suddenly engulfed in an orange glow that held back his draconic might. Were we all dreaming? Was this real? Had Rarity made us all share her delusions? Do shared hallucinations even work that way?
"BE AS DIAMOND!" The small loose rocks around Tom Bell rose under an orange glow, then broke apart, revealing diamonds inside, the transmutation magic rearranging the atoms with ease! Then they fired at crossbow speed right into Spike's scales. Tom Bell's projectiles had penetrated dragon scales! Spike cursed and hissed. I managed to hang on.
"That's what you get for trying to hurt Tom!" Rarity cheered.
"You're just another creepy puppet! I'm gonna cut yer strings!" The 'fine guest' 'pebble suit' that Tom Bell's shots had gone through like chalk fell apart, apparently that was no longer his role in her fantasy.
"Spike," I whispered as the truth hit me, "He isn't. His magic signature is different from Rarity's AND Discord's. It's a unique individual one, it's being generated by him alone."
"So he's just a battery-powered robot!"
My barrier was the only thing that kept a stalactite thrown by Rarigreed from piercing the back of Spike's neck. "DON'T YOU CALL MY TOM A ROBOT!"
"Stand aside, beast, or I shall smite ye!"
"Will you stop saying 'ye'!" More rocks all came together in front of him turning to diamond, and blocking Spike's sea of hot green flames.
I used a simple listening spell while I had the chance...And I could hear it. Something I'd never heard from any of Rarigreed's puppets; a heartbeat.
"Spike! What I'm saying is that this Tom isn't the boulder Rarity was lugging around anymore! It's like... he's HATCHED out from it, somehow, thanks to Rarity's magic... like I hatched you from your egg! Tom's ALIVE!"
The analytically-minded Spike shone through all that rampant brute force for an an instant. "Boulders as eggs... what a deranged world we live it. But then... wouldn't that make Rarity his mother?"
"I am the husband of fair Rarity, beast, so she desires and so it shall be!"
"His name is Spike!" I shouted back, pleadingly. I really didn't feel right fighting somepony who was only three minutes old, articulate though he was. "We're all trying to help Rarity! Trapping herself in this fantasy is wrong!"
"Right or wrong I shall do as she desires! That is love!"
"That isn't love!"
"Her desires are my desires. I shall be happy by her happiness."
A child didn't know any better than what their loved ones told them.
Spike slapped Tom away with his tail, then punched him into the ground.
"SPIKE!" I shouted in dismay.
"He talks too much! And he's fishing in my pond!"
"I don't think he knows any better! He's just a few minutes old!"
"Foalish wyrm! What made you think you could be worthy of the perfection that is my bride Rarity?"
"I never thought I COULD be worthy of her! It's impossible for ANYONE to be worthy of someone as wonderful as Rarity! But dragons are covetous by nature, and Rarity is part of my horde! She is MY treasure!"
"You dare put Rarity on par with that that the meager collection of baubles you keep in that cave? Have at thee dragon! Let us see whom is truly worth of her majestic self!"
"Go get 'im, Tom!" Rarigreed cheered.
And Spike's heart broke a little.
Everything was spiraling into madness.
My heart had healed.
I had gone looking for Spike.
Then I had run into AJ to find her cured.
We found Spike only to have a puppet of Sweetie lure us to Rarity, who was
acting out her fantasy. Relatively harmless.
Then Discord undid something to Spike and Spike went out of control.
Then Rarity's denial of reality somehow made Tom come to life?
And now Spike and Tom are fighting to the death over the hoof of Rarity?
While AJ and the puppet of Sweetie are going melee with Rarity?
And all her other puppets are now either cowering of clapping at Tom attacking Spike?
I wanted to find Smarty Pants, hide under my bed, curl up, and cry myself to sleep.
After a thousand years in service the spirit of disharmony and confusion, I finally felt like the world HAD gone mad.
EVERYTHING SHOULD'VE BEEN SO SIMPLE! But everything kept getting complicated, and complicated, and complicated! Why wasn't anything ever simple anymore?
++++
AJ gritted her teeth. A few seconds ago, she'd had everything under control. Just a few choice words and she'd have had Rarity willingly consent to Twilight's memory spell.
The golem Sweetie was besides herself. Could Rarity still be saved? She had to try. Tom Bell and Spike were trading blows, Spike's frustration as the entire assembly of puppets mimed jeers at him.
Twilight's hair had gone frazzled, She had teleported off Spike and was now huddled in one of the corners, with her head in her hooves.
Tom Bell's diamond shield blocked Spike's flames as he transformed stones into a diamond spear, and shot it straight and true at Spike's heart... which the dragon was able to catch. Still, Tom was frighteningly proficient at telekinesis, even if he lacked Twilight's raw power or Rarity's ability to multitask.
"Stand down, wyrm! Your size but makes you a giant target! My diamonds can pierce your scaly armor. Your strength is no match for my magic and your flames are no match for my shield, and there is no room for you to fly here! All your advantages are negated or turned against you! Accept the princess Rarity has no desire for you."
"Neee-veeer! Spike wants! Spike gets!" Spike's muscles burned as he threw the spear right back at Tom Bell, overwhelming his telekinesis and embedding the spear in Tom's shield and almost impaling an eye.
"Impossible!"
"Science fact, rock pony: nothing is unbreakable when struck against itself...!" Spike taunted.
Twilight's barrier flickered and failed as she diverted more and more brainpower to try and make sense as things went completely off the rails.
"...And what's cracked can be broken!"
Tom Bell, doubtlessly expecting to emerge from this battle unscathed, like the hero of a romance adventure, was too surprised when a giant dragon fist punched the center of the cracked shield and broke it. Tom Bell's telekinesis slowed Spike down at the last moment, but it didn't stop it, and he barely avoided the punch that left a crater in the giant 'ballroom' floor.
"TOM! Don't worry! I'm on my way to save you!" Rarigreed galloped towards the fighting pair.
"My love? You'd fight alongside me?"
"ALWAYS!"
The puppets meanwhile, swarmed upon Spike. He was going to be buried under an avalanche of animated stone, crushed and bludgeoned to death!
Fat chance of that happening!
Several of the puppets were shattered. The rest of the swarm fell back in shock. Why was there an eight foot tall stone Smarty Pants standing telekinetically on top of Spike dusting its hooves and looking rather intimidatingly at the puppet army? Why... because of Twilight The Unicorn!
"THIEF!!! HOW DARE YOU STEAL TREASURE FROM ME!" Rarity snarled at Twilight, whose hair was no longer frazzled.
"Like I keep saying, there is no spell that I can't learn!"
"Thief of treasures and thief of magic! Dishonest scum!"
" . . . This puppet of Smarty Pants is forged from my hope that this world can change. IT WILL NOT BREAK UNLESS I LET IT!"
"THIS WORLD IS FINE THE WAY IT IS! And no cheap imitation can stand against my family!!"
"Didn't you just say reality was what we create with our own two hooves?"
"T-THAT ONLY APPLIES TO ME!"
The golem Sweetie and AJ shattered a path through the thick ring of puppets.
The determination in that stone filly's face actually startled Rarigreed a little.
" ...Monster! Tom! No quarter for any of them!"
"As you wish it, Rarity!"
"I can't help but notice how you're referring to her as 'Rarity' instead of 'Rarigreed,' Mr. Bell, sir." Twilight remarked.
"Is it unnatural for lovers to refer to each other by the names they first learned each other by?"
"Then do you remember being just a dumb boulder a few minutes ago?" Spike whispered.
Tom Bell suddenly held his head as if suffering a headache. "I-I do not know what you speak of, knave, but you shall fall and Rarity will be safe!"
"Safe in a lie?" Twilight asked.
"THAT IS HER CHOICE! And like a good husband, I'll support her!"
"Oh? So then you KNOW she's just living an illusion?" Twilight probed.
"R-Reality is what she chooses to make it! And I won't have you hurt her! You'll have to go through me first! Have at you! All of you!"
"Well said, my husband!" Rarigreed shouted.
AJ and the golem Sweetie fought back to back and side by side. The giant Smarty Pants puppet indomitably disposed of any that managed to grab onto Spike as quickly as they approached.
Twilight teleported in front of Rarigreed, conjuring barrier after barrier to deflect her storm of stone bullets. Before Rarigreed could close the gap for hoof-to-hoof combat that would favor the mad mare Twilight sent a wave of ice magic at Rarigreed that she just leapt over, but the Element of Greed was instead hit by the lightning spell and then, while her nervous system was working itself out, a fireball. A protective stone tomb pulled together around Rarigreed as she regenerated.
Twilight sniped a carefully-armed shot through a tiny hole in the tomb. It hit its mark. After that, a simple transmutation spell turned the inside of the tomb bright and reflective.
"A MUSTACHE? NOW I'M UGLY!" The puppets didn't falter, but the tomb around Rarigreed weakened and Twilight charged. Rarigreed coughed blood as she and Twilight crashed into the stone floor.
"ENOUGH!" Rarigreed' horn flared as she tore off the mustache.
Twilight's eyes became a crystalline carousel of colors, leaving her effectively blind. She felt herself being impaled countlessly from several directions at once by rocks flying at incredible speeds. Spike's body was covered in sparkling diamonds, all stained bright red from his blood. Tom Bell, however didn't have a scratch, and had even made himself a new shield. "Wait for me, Rarity! I'll protect you!"
"No . . . she's mine, I'll protect her . . . " Spike growled.
"She doesn't need a brute like you! I live for her! Anyone who does less could not be worthy of a jewel as flawless as she!"
"I told you already, no one can be worthy of her." Spike breathed fire again, but this time he didn't aim at Tom Bell. He aimed at the floor? Tom Bell was confused when Spike did this again and again. The heat in the ballroom rose.
Spike felt the puppets begin to pile up. The Smarty Pants puppet was flaying about like it was fighting blind. With one eye he saw Twilight being struck from all directions by Rarigreed.
Twilight brought a barrier that quickly became a sphere of stones. Twilight then tore her own eyes out and focused on maintaining the barrier as some made their way through and continued to strike through her body. Her normal vision returned as new eyes regenerated, so she dropped the barrier and teleported.
"Gotcha!" Twilight came down on top of Rarigreed, horn ready to touch her.
Spike felt a diamond spear pierce his chest, just missing his heart and fire lung, hitting instead one of his life sustaining air-breathing lungs!
"Rarity is all-important, but keep your mind on the fight, beast!" Tom Bell declared pulling the spear out.
"SPIKE!"
"HI-YA!" Rarigreed judo threw Twilight and impaled her with a stone stake before she even landed.
"Twilight!" Spike gasped, ignoring the true anguish forcing air through his throat. as the taste of something metallic in his mouth.
"What do hot and cold make-?!" Twilight rolled an eye to all the molten stone around Tom Bell, (who was holding up very well against the heat).
Twilight focused. She had a thousand years learning to work through pain. Twilight fired a beam of ice magic at the molten floor between the bleeding Spike and Tom Bell . . . it froze fast, too fast!
"Boom," Twilight whispered.
The entire floor around Tom Bell exploded in frozen and molten rock, Spike fell back and shielded himself with his wings, Tom Bell's shield only saved him from one direction, and there were no solid stones not molten or frozen for him to use that didn't strike him from all sides.
"TOM!!!" Rarigreed screamed.
All of Rarigreed's puppets stopped. Everyone's eyes were on the explosion.
Then a square block from the ceiling caught Twilight by surprise and crushed her. The Smarty Pants puppet fell lifeless.
"TOM!" Two stone slabs sandwiched AJ and the golem Sweetie together flat. If golem Sweetie hadn't used herself as a brace, it would've been bad for Applejack. Tiny cracks began to appear in Sweetie's stone legs. Instead of running for it, AJ began using her strength to help her push. The golem flicked a surprised look at her.
"It wouldn't be very kind would it? To abandon somepony whose been watching my back to save my own hide! I ain't abandonin' a friend ever again!" AJ grunted. The slabs slowly crushed them.
Spike slowly got up, his wings were made of much tougher stuff than they looked.
"BE BUT STONE!"
An orange light shoot out of the mess and hit one of Spike's legs. It turned to lifeless rock.
Around this point, the smoke was settling. They could all see one of Tom Bell's eyes was closed, orange light leaking down one side of his face. The stone pony was breathing hard. His body was covered in pockmarks. A large crack ran along his side, bleeding more of the orange glow.
"I wished to defeat you honorably, beast. One who loves Rarity can not be all foul, but Rarity's sake, I must win!"
Distracted and partially disabled, Spike's tail was turned to stone next. Spike tried his fire breath but what remained of Tom's shield brought up and again deflected the fire stream. "I learn from my mistakes, monster. Can you say the same?"
"My name Kenbroth Gilspotten Heathspike The Seventh." Spike coughed boiling blood for that one.
"It is over Kenbroth Gilspotten Heathspike The Seventh. Please accept defeat with honor like a true stallion."
"I . . . am . . . a DRAGON!"
Tom sighed. "Then rest in peace knowing you'll be a beautiful work of art. Part of my Rarity's lovely collection."
The puppets began to reanimate, the piles of rocks reforming into pony shapes, aglow again with Rarigreed's magic.
Rarigreed's horn glowed as she began to pose Spike's giant body to how she'd like for her new statue gallery. Tom petrified Spike's arm.
"Now be a good dearie Spike and don't resist, just think how beautiful you'll be in my collection forever."
Spike didn't resist. Something in him crumbled. "Very well. If I can't have her, maybe at least she can have me."
Spike felt a dull warm pain in his chest at the image of giving all of himself and all he could be to Rarity, who he'd simply belong to. Giving all that was himself, giving all that could be himself.
+++++
It didn't feel right to use such a ... unchivalrous tactic, against the dragon, Heathspike, but I had to protect Rarity, and this dragon's defeat was what she desired, and that ended that.
At least it was about to be over and I and Rarity could then enjoy our happily ever after. I felt like I was forgetting something. Oh well, I knew I loved Rarity, and I knew that I was her husband, and I knew what she wanted, that should be enough for any stallion. It was...all I knew...Is it strange I know so little?
Where was the grand satisfaction I ought to be feeling at seeing Heathspike defeated? The thrill of victory a brave knight was supposed to have? There was something not-happy about see Heathspike reduced so, seeing the dragon broken. He was a thug, so why this feeling of regret?
Mayhaps because he, too, loved Rarity? Was that it? Because he thought he was worthy of her? No, he said that no one could be worthy of her. But Rarity thought I was worthy of her. She was a princess and I was her prince. How could we not fit together?
I had my duty, this was what my Rarity desired, so this was what had to be, I would be unfaithful by doing otherwise. I gave Heathspike an honorable bow and salute and I fired my spell at the dragon's head.
It was blocked by that giant puppet from before! What did the purple one, Twilight, call her? Smarty Pants! But how...?! Hadn't it stopped moving after my Rarity crushed Twilight? Heathspike looked surprised, as well!
Heathspike looked surprised.
"Never count out a surprise return by someone who regenerates and knows how to teleport!" Twilight declared teleporting to Heathspike's side and forming a barrier spell. She was no longer wearing the lovely dress Rarity made for her.
"You are a noble foe for protecting your comrade but-"
"Spike is my family."
"I don't see the resemblance," I said and fired again only for the puppet to continue to block it.
"Family isn't just about blood, it about our hearts too."
I had never heard that before.
It seemed my spell wasn't strong enough to petrify magic as it was block by Twilight's shield spell.
My Rarity came at her with a flying dragon kick, set to knock her horn clean off as the purple unicorn was busying giving her speech. But my Rarity was tackled in mid-air by the small filly, which may have broke my Rarity's ribs!
I lost my concentration, but then, SOMETHING constructed out of the rocks. Two garish looking ponies began to hold her down the same as the filly was.
Twilight used the opportunity to touched her horn to Heathspike, undoing my petrification magic like it was nothing. What was this unicorn?
+++
'I am an 'Earth' pony. Rocks are a part of 'earth' right? We can guide life and the land the same way Hippogriffs can the sky, and virgacorns mana. Okay, if that's the case, then I can tell this to-BREAK!' AJ slammed her skull against the stone slabs slowing crushing her and the golem Sweetie.
It broke in two. Which one? You really have to ask that question?
Their hooves no longer pushing against anything, AJ and the Sweetie golem were propelled by the other slab clear across the room. It sadly didn't ram them into Rarigreed or Tom which would have been nice.
The Earth Pony and the white filly launched across the room on a slab, slamming into the wall.
+++
The orange Earth pony charges at me out of the smoke using one of the guests as a shield! Did these ponies know no shame?!
I stabbed at her, only for my horn to go through air and I realized I was fighting a illusion! Instead, the next attack came from the side!
"LET ME GO! I COMMAND YOU! TOM HELP!"
"I'm coming!"
The guests came to Rarity's aid but the monstrous Smarty Pants mutely, heartless, struck them away like they were dolls.
The orange Earth pony struck me in my side, I heard a crack, and from that side, I felt . . . something... unpleasant. What was the word? From the explosion before? Pain? I actually fell to one knee.
The unicorn teleported to my Rarity, who was restrained and helpless. The guests bravely came at her, but the monster Smarty Pants was too effective at battering them aside. None wept for their sacrifice.
The orange Earth pony said, "Give up, it's over. Just buckin' please stand down!"
"Never give up! Never surrender! For Rarity, I refuse to lose!"
I picked my diamond spear and threw it right at Twilight straight and true.
"And Ah refuse ta lose when mah friends need me...Ah'm sorry."
The Earth pony got under me, and struck something in my chest . . . it hurt, greatly, but the pain dulled. I fell down, my weight cracking her bones, I was having trouble moving my body... why? I heard another cracking noise within me.
My spear, please let my spear hit, let me save my Rarity, please... it hit . . . but it missed the unicorn's heart, she merely pulled it out magically and threw it into a wall. I tried to grab it but it was out of my range, I tried to form another spear but my horn hurt too badly. I tried to move but my body made more of that cracking noising and my whole body hurt!
Rarity, I'm so sorry, I'm not a worthy prince, knight or husband.
What use is any stallion who can not protect his mare?
I felt something in my eyes . . . they were falling down my face.
+++
I touched my horn to Rarity while the golem of Sweetie Belle, and the two puppets of her parents (neither of them were as detailed as Sweetie... and they weren't my creations. I honestly don't know WHAT was going on with them) held her down with my puppet of Smarty Pants fended off the horde.
But instead of memories flashing... I was suddenly at the Grand Galloping Gala of a thousand years ago. Well, not precisely. Several details were wrong. The decorations were more lavish, the music less droll. Octavia was not among the band. Prince Blueblood and Princess Celestia were nowhere to be seen.
Ruby Pinch. Her mother. The flower trio. The Wonderbolts. Filthy Rich. Countless others ponies of a bygone era. All dressed like nobility, all the way down to the Donut Joe, happily chatting about this and that. It was a starry night outside.
I looked down at myself, seeming I was clad in a Victorian era dress! What had been wrong with my old Gala dress? It looked like it had gone through a thousand years worth of revisions.
The Ballroom was also much larger than the one in the real Canterlot Castle, and held many more ponies, from Canterlot, from Ponyville, from Appleloosa and Cloudsdal! The music never stopped, the waltz never stopped. In some ways, it was more surreal than the rock puppet ball.
I spotted six empty seats, off to one side. They were marked 'reserved.' My name was on one, Spike's was on another, followed by the other four Elements of Chaos. I felt a shiver.
But what weirded me out most was how Berry Punch was hitting the punch bowl hard, Soarin' couldn't leave the pie table alone, and Filthy Rich was talking about the virtues of wholesale. For all their extravagant apparel, they weren't acting like artful, urbane elites at a social gathering. They were acting like themselves. All indulging in their desires... their real ones.
Rarity was, of course, the center of attention. Everyone's eyes were on her. Her dress was a beauty to rival any masterwork in history. Every word she spoke was witty and charming. She looked happy. Nearly every stallion had heart eyes for her.
The chairs reserved for us came to mind again.
Discord had used me his adviser, his first critic, his emissary, his confident at first until he began speaking more with Fluttercruel, his record keeper, his primary source of personal entertainment, (I also like to think I kept things running more smoothly around here) and I was technically supposed to keep the others in line and on task (yes, I did consider pretending to still be Tragedy and using all those things to manipulate him, but it seemed too risky).
Spike was just a joy ride. He was never treated as anything but Discord's personal chair and party ride. Discord could magic up a chair with fully functional wings/snorkels/tripod alien deathwalker legs if he wanted, Spike to feel small and insignificant no matter how big and powerful Spike became. It was a completely meaningless act of childish bullying. Spike was, just an afterthought. It didn't surprise me. Discord had always been a spoiled brat who raised a spoiled brat who I'd bet was raised by a spoiled brat.
Angry Pie was his attack dog. No, an attack dog had loyalty. His weapon? No, a weapon could be trusted to do what it was told. She was like a force of nature that was only vaguely directed towards the proper targets that may or may not attack those. Angry Pie hated everything. She lashed out at everything. I honestly wondered why we didn't keep her shackled and bridled when she wasn't 'in use.' Her students? They were a paradox even to me. Like the eye of a storm. In a hundred years Discord had grown BORED with teasing her. There was no challenge in it. I remember when she killed her first pony for laughing at her. Decades, maybe a century after the day of chaos started, I hadn't cared.
Liarjack. Master didn't really use her for much. He normally just let her roam the castle attending us. She volunteered for every assignment she could as long she was paired up with one of us. Master allowed her to create illusions and lies to comfort the dying. She had spent a lot of time in Sunnytown until they and her sister had all passed on. She was always doing her best to smile. She endured any abuse from Cruel or Angry. Now that I care again, I understand she was doing it all for us. And I swear by Cadence, I'm not letting her become his pet again.
Traitor Dash. He delights in hurting her more than he does me. Discord loved using her for solo missions where LJ couldn't tag along. He threw in arbitrary time limits and conditions, making superfluous punishments known if she failed. Traitor Dash never failed a mission ever. Discord for a while began making her assignments more and more impossible, she still accomplished them. She never betrayed Discord once. Grogar had actually offered Dash a chance to become his minion to topple Discord and then she'd be free to go. Dash attacked Grogar instead. She didn't even hesitate. Discord loved playing with her so much; he has a loyal servant who hates herself for the very reason she's loyal to him.
Fluttercruel. I don't want to talk about her. Not in the least. Not what she does, not what Discord has her do. She does it all with a smile. Of all of us, she was the one Master twisted into a stranger the most. Master began to ignore me and began to chat more with Fluttercruel over the centuries. Her laugh, when Angry Pie attacks her for it she just laughs harder! Like needles dancing on the edge of a knife. I watched her slowly turn more violent as time went on. Her laughing harder, her animals becoming just more bloody playthings to her, please, let's not talk about her.
And Rarigreed, she was lost in her own world. And as the decades rolled by she only became more lost. Everything was hers. Master did pretty much nothing with her. He just left her to her 'treasures.' In a way she was less than Spike. Spike at least had a purpose in Master's games. At least Angry Pie was used for something. Rarigreed was left to her fantasy world, and that alone was the joke Discord found in her. That's what she was to Discord, a used-up joke. She went where she wanted, when she wanted, how she wanted to add to her collection. She wanted the experience of the seapony operas. Master barely even tried to string her along to act as one of his enforcers (which he needed even less than spies). If it was there, then it was hers to take.
She ought to have been born a dragon. I'm honestly surprised she isn't one here, in her mind's eye. Entitlement, prestige, fear, power, thousand plus year old life span, all were things that would logically appeal to her. I homed in on my target. None of the guests were even trying to stop me. Rarity didn't even seem to notice me!
No elite guards. No illusions. No walls or defenses. Rarigreed's mind was incredibly open.
As I got close, Rarigreed, finally looked at me. "Darling! You made it! I've been waiting so long for you to join my family. So many of our friends from all over already have. I swear we can rival the Apple clan! Welcome Twilight, to us," she said smiling happily, her voice cultured and lavish as her dress.
I thought for a few moment of what I could say, and settled on, "I'm sorry, Rarity. The Gala is over."
I touched my horn to hers again, and cast the memory spell a second time in the heart of her mind.
In the blink of an eye the mental world became a swirling maelstrom. Violet, blue, green, red, and black spiraled around us, the point where our horns touched a tiny blinding white star. I heard countless pony voices, young, old, stallion mare, but couldn't make out a word.
White light flashed around us.
A filly being pressured by her father to be an athlete, a mother being a much better teacher than practitioner of what it meant to be a lady. A little sister who drove her insane whose truest desire was her approval.
Finding an entire cache of jewels, and using them to turn her costumes into marvels. Letting her friends keep the costumes afterwards!
Being classmates with an Earth pony mare who liked flower blooming, caterpillars becoming butterflies, anything that had to do with the realization of everything something could be. And her friend's sister who was always so shy.
Never turning down a request to make a dress for anypony, putting her heart into no matter how big or small the payment.
Giving up a piece of her beauty for a stranger's beauty.
Worthy of Generosity.
Letting her greed get the better of her more than once.
Her generosity shining through much more than once.
Wings and the popularity she always wanted going straight to her head.
Taking time out of her life to help Applejack's orchard.
Takings time out of her business just to accompany AJ's planting of a new tree.
Reconciling with Applejack and learning contrast could make the best symmetry.
The five custom ugly dresses made for her friends that almost ruined her life. And she never hated them for it. Then her friends making amends by helping restore her reputation.
Always there to give, not just her excess wealth, but from herself as well.
"Those memories are from over a thousand years ago! They mean nothing to me!" The white mare hissed, shaking like a leaf.
"Then why are you shaking?!"
Rarigreed growled.
I pushed my horn harder and harder against Rarigreed's, almost piercing her skull.
"Look at them Rarity! Your friends,your family! Are you going to really tell me they didn't mean anything to you-?!"
A year together with five, six fantastic friends... how very, very happy they'd all been.
"GET OUT! GET OUT! AGH!!"
"WAKE UP RARITY! Fluttershy! You parents! Applejack! Sweetie Belle! She stayed with you till the end! Never asking for anything in return! She gave all of herself to you! And you threw out your memories of her out like trash!!!"
Rarigreed gritted her teeth, her veins throbbing.
"She lived for you! Applejack has done nothing but carry on in Sweetie's place, all for your sake!"
"SHE'S DEAD! SHE'S DUST IN THE GROUND! SHE DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING!"
"So all the times you take care of her in your parents's stead meant nothing? So now because she's no longer with us, it means she never was here? That's mathematically impossible, Rarity! We always leave an impression behind!"
"It doesn't matter!!!"
"Then why did you make such a big deal about her being dead at all-?!"
Rarigreed grunted.
Then it hit me. There was nothing wrong with the spell, I was just using it wrong for the situation at hoof. These weren't the memories to burn away the fog. All the memories of a little sister began to flash as I helped them awaken.
"I said wake up! You chose things over what really mattered! You chose something of less value over something of greater value when given the choice!"
"BUCK YOU!"
"A mare willing to throw away something precious to her has no right to call herself Greed!"
Rarigreed screamed so loud it pierced the heavens.
The voices scattered in all directions.
An diamond shaped Element of Chaos turned right-side up.
+++++
The connection between Twilight and my Rarity broke. And my Rarity screamed. I felt my inside hurt worse at the sound. Heathspike, the orange Earth pony, the golem filly, all watched breathlessly as a bright flash stung our eyes.
Rarity's colors had brightened. When... when did she get so dirty? She was still beautiful.
The guests, no, the puppets, including the ones holding her, all stopped moving, and fell apart noisily into heaps of stone. The dresses the mares and filly were wearing, they were just pebbles, all this time, they also fell to the ground.
Then what was I?
Rarity blinked. No . . . don't go, don't leave me all alone."
"You're not! I'm still..." I gasped out in pain again.
"We're still here," Twilight said embracing her. She looked happy for a moment...
I shuddered.
"R-Rarity."
"TOM!"
Rarigreed galloped over to me.
"No one stop her," Twilight ordered.
Rarity, she looked horrified. "It's okay dear, everything is okay. It's . . ." she gritted her teeth.
"You're . . . lying." I realized that was the word. "A mare as beautiful you shouldn't have to lie. Please . . . Rarity . . . what's happening to me?" The pain was still there, but it was numbing in places.
"AJ, can you do anything for him?" Twilight asked the orange mare.
"Ah don't have a clue what kind of earth magic this is! Ah can't do a thing!"
Just like that? Something for me? When we had just been fighting? She sounded so sad, for someone who had just been fighting her friends. The Earth pony, she was so kind.
"Can you do something! I know there's more to you than what I'm seeing!" Twilight now looked at the filly, who slowly shook her head, looking dejected.
"Rarity! This is your magic! You have to be able to do something!" AJ asked.
"I-I-I have no idea!" Rarity was blinking away tears.
"Please tell me, Rarity!" I begged her. I felt cold. The numbness was spreading further from inside me. I heard stone crack and fall. I felt a draft along side me.
"You're . . ." Rarity choked, it looked so wrong to see her like that. Heathspike looked in agony to see her in agony. He truly did love her. "You're dying."
"Dying?" I asked scared and confused. Why did the word sound so familiar? Where had I heard it before? "What's, what's dying?" Why couldn't I move?
"You're going away for a while, but I promise I'll see you again someday." She nuzzled me. Followed by the filly.
AJ nodded. "Yeah, Ah'm workin' to be able to see meh sister again there too...Ah can promise yah, there's somethin' waitin' that's well worth gettin' too."
"Thank you, Rarity . . . thank you for being . . .h-honest with me. Honest... that's the right word... right?"
"Yes. Yes it is." Rarity was crying even more now. It felt so wrong to see her cry. She shouldn't have to cry.
"Are you crying because of me? I'm-I'm sorry Rarity. I failed you completely."
"No you didn't! You did your duty! You stayed true! You kept going to the end. It's all you could do. It's alright, it's alright, you don't have to blame yourself."
I was fighting on the right side, but the Twilight and the others hearts called out when fighting, was theirs a right side too? ...I don't think I can understand that...But I was true to her...that's all that matters.
Rarity loved poetry. I knew this to be true. "To live is to die, to die is to have lived, lives are not measured by length but by value, I live every moment for my beautiful bride, and so I have lived. If this life was not good, then no life is good." It looked her in the eyes. I saw my reflection. Is that what I looked like? There were so many cracks. There were so much light showing, but, why was it fading? "That was nice wasn't it?"
"Yes dear, yes it was." She smiled. "And one more thing...Happy birthday, Tom Bell." She kissed me. It was the most wonderful thing in the world.
I felt relieved to see her smiled. Birthday... hearing that from her made me feel happy...
I looked to the others. "Please...keep her safe...for me," I requested. They all nodded as a group, even Heathspike.
I heard stone shattering.
++
A white void. No far away. No close. No horizon. Nothing. A bright dot far far away. A black dot far far away.
That black dot was suddenly much closer. The black dot exploded in size and opened like the maul of a dragon, jagged teeth showing. I saw countless pairs of gray lights inside. Shapes like those of ponies crowded out like they were one creature. I saw one shadow close, it was faded beige, her cutie mark was a painter's brush. I felt the devouring cold.
A single note echoed, the mob of shadows rippled. A white unicorn mare with purple and pink curls was now between me and the shadows. Her cutie mark symbolized singing. She looked familiar.
The lead shadow growled, "N- f-i-. He be--ngs -- N--hing."
"I'm here for him. Go home."
The shadows moved back in like a tongue back into a mouth.
The mare turned and smiled at me, "Don't worry dear, Auntie Sweetie Belle is here. Come with me."
I took her hoof and she helped me up.
+++
(Look at her. How many ponies have she helped kill and now she's crying over the death of pony who wasn't even real? Worthless hypocrite.)
Shut the buck up.
I made the Smarty Pants puppet salute before letting it collapse into a simple mass of stone, I silently thanked it. I lost track of how long we stood there, as Rarity sobbed over Tom Bell's debris. Just a shattered statue now, stone insides, stone bones, a stone heart, the orange light all seeped out like blood and vanished. Spike had taken the remains of Tom's shield and lodged it in the ground as a makeshift tombstone. I silently recited a variation of Guru Fido's prayer.
(You waste time on grieving something that was never a pony, was never alive, and never a person! I'm SURE all those Discord is torturing right now would understand you letting a lunatic cry over a bunch of rocks!)
I SAID SHUT UP!!! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT SO SHUT UP!!!
Spike folded his wings. The golem lowered her head. AJ pushed her hat over her eyes, it failed to hide her tears.
Rarity's eye for detail caught something. She dug through the remains, she pulled out a diamond, it was so tiny. Only Rarity could have noticed it.
She took the white diamond, so small, and embedded it in her collar bone. Her regeneration healed the minute wound almost instantly. The diamond sparkled.
She spoke, stern and harsh, her eyes open, she looked at all of us, "I am ugly. Inside and out. I'm a horrid creature. I won't hide from that any more! Desire has its own beauty, desire fuels progress. Without it, nothing can move forwards because nothing wants to move forwards. My desire for Tom to be real created something beautiful because I nurtured that desire for so very long! But I have been ugly. Divorced from reality for a thousand years. I've grown so strong, in some respects... but so much else about who I am has... stagnated. No longer. Desire is supposed to be honest. Desire is supposed to be straightforward, desire in its pure form doesn't hide its intent. I'm done hiding from truth. I'm still... desirous. I still want it all. And SINCE I want it all, then I'll ACCEPT it all, beauty and ugliness, in equal measure."
Rarigreed hugged herself as she yelled out in pain. Her element of chaos still beat inside her, I could sense it. But, I saw the outline of a purple diamond glow where she had placed Tom Bell's diamond in her.
Rarigreed looked at herself, she whispered. "Honesty."
The filly golem walked up to Rarigreed at last, looking up at her. All the other puppets had fallen apart after I had used the memory spell. Why hadn't she?
Rarigreed blinked at her. "S-Sweetie Belle?"
The golem nodded slowly. Then hugged her. Her blue glow began to flicker.
Rarigreed hugged her back. I think she could tell Sweetie didn't have long, but...she wouldn't just let her go.
"I promise...I'll never throw you away again...even if you're gone...You're more precious than any jewel. While I love jewels...while I want them...they can't tell me they love me...They can't be my little sister...you and Tom...mother and father...and my friends... oh, my dears friends, Applejack, Twilight, Spike... you're all my most precious possessions...And I'm never throwing any of you away, ever again..."
I saw Spike give an understanding nod. I think he understood that more than the rest of us...after all, that was how dragons saw things too.
The golem broke the hug and took few trots back, smiling. She did a short ballet pose on her rear legs, her front hooves cupping her spot for her stone heart. Then she pointed at herself, crossed her forelegs over her chest like she was hugging somepony, then pointed at Rarity.
"I love you too, Sweetie Belle...My little sister..." Rarity replied, shedding a tear. The golem lay down to rest. The blue glow ended. And the last of the stone ponies crumbled into lifeless rock.
"Sweetie Belle." Rarity cried again. I could tell she saw it coming. Didn't make it easier. She shuddered. She nuzzled the remain. Greed had lost something precious. There were few greater pains than that. And had happened twice now.
AJ silently pushed a few stone slabs around the golem's remains. Spike calmly scratched out 'Sweetie Belle's Love' on one side.
While we were bidding final farewells, I walked over to the area were Cadence's jewelry was buried, saying a silent prayer...and a silent thanks. I was tempted to take the jewelry and do it properly, but I didn't know how Rarigreed would react.
Rarigreed to looked at us and spoke plainly, "This wretched castle holds nothing of value to me anymore. Nothing here's worth bringing with me... apart from the three of you. Let's go."