//------------------------------// // Fight or Flight // Story: Waking up as Rarity. // by TonydBrony //------------------------------// Four options stood before me as I gazed into Mims horrifyingly grim eyes. One: Run like my life depends on it. (Because it does.) Two: Surrender. Three: Try to reason with her. (Not likely.) Four: I face Mim head on with no regrets and possibly end up getting my hide torn asunder by her might. Running doesn’t sound like that bad of an option, dear. “I DO NOT LOSE!” Mim screeched as shards of the street jutted upwards around us like teeth made of broken pipes and asphalt, surrounding us. If fighting will result in victory, then you must fi- I didn’t even let the thought finish before I felt a burning sensation hit my head. I charged Mim like a bull with no regret. She turned herself into a literal bull, snorting as she took to the charge as well. Immediately, my snap-to reflexes took control, sending me into a slide that got me under and past the pissed off taurus. With a furious roar, Mim turned herself into a wolf, spinning around to face me. “I will tear you apart, cheating pony.” I felt my magical grip pick up the nearest object next to me. A dull red brick. “It’s not my fault you don’t know how to play!” I braced myself for the next charge that felt only mere moments away. It came in the form of a pounce, as Mim lunged at me with claws and teeth bared, aiming to snap my neck or something equally as painful and lethal. As she came down upon me, I shoved the brick into her open maw and with nothing but hope on my side. I attempted return the attack with full force. Although Rarity’s dainty body structure wasn’t built for the physical stress that I practiced on almost a daily basis, it held firm as I barreled into the snarling beast that was Madam Mim. With a resounding crack, the buck broke the red brick into pebbles in the wolf’s mouth, and most likely shattered her jaw. Ponies may be small, but most of their muscle is in their hind legs. Mim collapsed to the ground next to me, eyes wide as she frantically tried to shift back to her natural shape, her body now bruised and her jaw hanging askew. Raw magic flowed from her hands into her jaw but I could almost see her age as she used her power to heal herself, finally she crawled away from me, gasping for air. “This isn’t over, pony.” She rasped, and then all she was, was a hummingbird, flitting away into the sky. “Yes, you’d better run!” I shouted into the now darkening autumn clouds. “Maybe next time I won’t simply mess up that ugly snout of yours!” An overwhelming sense of pride took over me as I lowered myself to the cold concrete. You did good, darling. The thought brought a little sunshine into my smile, and I looked around with that dopey smile on my face before I realized that I was still quite trapped in a ring of stone and metal. “Hello? Anyone out there?” I hollered, starting to panic a bit. “Is that... The pony?” A voice said from the other side. My ears perked up as the voice called out to me. “Yes!” I cried out, “it’s me! Please, get me out of this filthy place!” “Hold on, ma’am, we are getting a ladder truck down here. Are you injured?” The man shouted back. “Just a few scrapes and bruises!” I replied in a raspy voice. “But, if you don’t mind, please hurry.” “Certainly. Is the crazed woman still in there?” “Long gone, sir!” I shouted back, my voice growing weaker. “Okay, just stay tight and we will have you out in no time.” Sirens in the distance herald the arrival of the ladder truck, and shortly a ladder and a man in a harness dangling off it are lowered over the side, to pick me up and deposit me on the outside of the trap. From the outside the devastation is more pronounced, the ground folded up like leaves to create the battleground. Cars are flipped over and water is spewing from underground pipes as I am led away and to a police car at a safe distance to give a report. “So, start from the top.” The officer in charge says after turning on a recording machine. I let out a long sigh and returned my eyes to the officer. “I woke up like this, yesterday. Five thirty, sharp. I saw the news and left immediately for New York.” I said to the Sergeant in blue, thoroughly explaining my two-day venture in full detail. Right up to the point of being kidnapped by a madwoman out of a cartoon. “...and after I ate the sandwich, I saw my mane was a complete mess. So, I was going to stop and fix it, but I found myself being knocked out before hand.” I sullenly prodded my straightened mane. “When I came to, I found myself going toe to toe with that crazy witch lady. Not to mention that damn game of chess we played.” “Wait... you played a game of chess with someone that knocked you out?” The officer asked, obviously confused. “Well, it was that or be strangled in a death grip.” I replied with a small laugh. “She wanted to keep me as a damn pet!” I cried out, clinging to my small stuffed friend. “Well, that does sound terrible.” He said, patting me on the head in his best imitation of comforting a witness. “So what happened after the chess game?” “She flipped out on me because I caught her in a stalemate! So she went all crazy shape-shifty and attacked me!” I quipped, throwing my hooves into the air to add effect. “So she was the one who tore up the street, that wasn’t you?” He asked. I looked up at him questioningly. “Look at me.” I deadpanned. “Do I really look like a monster that could tear up a street like it was cardboard?” I asked, pointing to the scene of attack. “To be honest, Ms. Bell, we don’t know what unicorns are capable of yet. The police force has a few theories and tricks but we don’t know what you can do. Though I will be happy to buy you dinner and set you up with a hotel on the tab of Charleston’s police department if you are willing to help us test some anti magic devices. I promise none of them will hurt you.” Free food and a place to stay for the night? And all you have to do is take a test! Don’t mess this up, I need some R&R! “That depends.” I said back to the man. “If I can have a full spa day treatment and a working computer to use. You’ve got yourself a deal. Oh, and I need a hat. I seem to have lost mine.” After a moment, I realize that my hat is nowhere to be found, and I start to tear up. “It meant a lot to me.” The officer was taken off guard as he again patted me on the head. “I.... will check with the crime scene folks, see if it was picked up in the sweep, okay? Let me wrap up here, officer Alriez will stay with you until I get back.” The aforementioned officer nodded to me with an understanding smile, before taking off her officers cap and setting it on my head at a slant. “Until you get yours back.” She said gently. I looked up to the woman, the way a newborn pup would to it’s own mother and carried a set of puppy dog eyes that could drill into anyone's soul to make them cry. I reached up to her, shaking my hooves trying to get my hooves in a hug around her. The officer looked around, not wanting her superiors to see her breaking formality, but finally she leaned down and took me into an embrace. “Everything will work out, hun.” She said, in the same tone as one would say to a child, but I didn’t mind. For a bit there, that is what I needed.