Rarity emerged from the portal and blinked in surprise. Before her was a brightly lit wide corridor, paved with white stone and surrounded with walls of glass. Behind each glass panel a multitude of items could be seen: shelves full of books, home appliances, shoes? They weren’t designed for any race known in Equestria, but Rarity could recognize a shoe when she saw it. Curious, she approached that section of the wall and as she did, one panel slid open, allowing entry. A quick look inside revealed a number of mirrors and a cash desk. It was a shoe shop! Rarity ran inside, skidding to a halt among the shelves. Sure, nothing here would fit her but still, shoes!
It was only after she stopped in front of the mirror that she snapped out of her shopping spree mode. She looked perfect, which shouldn’t have been the case. All the dust, blood and injuries, disappeared. Even her mane was back in perfect condition. Thinking about it reminded Rarity of her predicament. Somewhere there was another monster waiting to kill her.
With a deep sigh she walked out of the shoe shop to check her surroundings. A quick test revealed more sliding doors. Apparently, the whole building was full of shops of various kinds. Fighting hard not to be distracted again, Rarity walked around, looking for her opponent.
Half an hour later, Rarity sat down with a deep sigh. The place turned out to be much bigger than she originally thought. There were three floors full of all sorts of merchandise. She shuddered at the memory of groceries she had stumbled into – it was quite obvious the locals were omnivorous. From the pictures she had seen in the stores, they seemed to be the same species as her first opponent, though judging by the bipedal ponyquins standing in the clothes stores, almost twice her size. However, the huge and unfamiliar city she could see through one of the large windows seemed completely deserted.
With the enemy nowhere in sight, Rarity could no longer resist checking the clothes store. It was one of the biggest around, extending through two floors, with its own stairs in the middle. The fashionista walked slowly among the aisles, taking in the designs, pondering the ramifications of bipedal stature to dress design. Obviously, the front would become more, and... She stopped to examine a coat rack she was passing by. The coat was honey brown and very puffy, something she had never seen before. She moved closer to take a better look, only to shriek in shock as the sudden realization struck her. It was fur! A piece of a living creature! Not only did the locals eat animals, but they apparently wore them too.
Feeling wobbly on her hooves, Rarity stumbled out of the store and into the main corridor. She stopped, leaning against the store window, waiting for her breath to calm down. She didn’t need this sort of surprises. Her day was already bad enough as it was.
Suddenly, Rarity’s ears twitched. The silence of the building was disrupted by the sound of steps. Someone was approaching. Shaking off the momentary weakness, the unicorn straightened up, bracing herself for whatever was to come. After a moment, a female of the local species emerged from behind the corner.
She was tall and lean, as tall as the ponyquins in the store, with pale skin and a very long, wavy, lime green mane, which clashed slightly with the small red jacket she was wearing. The rest of her clothes consisted of a short, black dress with a double golden belt, high-heeled red shoes and a pair of sunglasses. Large black crystal and gold earrings adorned her ears and a gold necklace was hanging around her neck. In her hand she was holding a fluffy fuchsia hand fan. Sadly, the remains of a piece of cake in her other hand and the crumbs around her mouth slightly spoiled the overall effect. The creature turned and looked at Rarity from behind the glasses, her mouth stretching into a lazy smile.
“Oh, so here you are. I was beginning to doubt you’d ever appear, when I heard the scream. You must be Rarity, the unicorn, yes?”
So, she knows who I am. She must be my opponent.
Forcing her body to look relaxed, Rarity nodded her head. “Yes, I am. You seem to have me at a disadvantage here darling. I’m afraid I don’t even know what species you are.”
As she finished the sentence, Rarity hesitated. Wasn’t it a rude way to ask? Fortunately her opponent looked more surprised than insulted.
“Species? I am a human. And as for my name, I am green Esmeraude of the Black Moon clan.” She stuffed the rest of the cake into her mouth and swallowed quickly. Then she waved her fan in front of her face and her glasses disappeared revealing a pair of dark eyes. There was now a mark in the centre of her forehead – a small black crescent with its tips pointing down.
“And now that we are done with introductions, I’m afraid it is time for you to die.” She waved her fan again and her body from the neck down was consumed by a vivid pink aura. When the spell faded, her clothes were transformed. Her dress now had a polo neckline and she was wearing matching long gloves and high-heeled boots. The golden belts and necklace were gone, replaced by five large oval turquoise stones, three in a pattern on her chest and two on her wrists, each framed by a ring of pearls.
Rarity took a step back, gasping with sudden realisation.
The fan... the fuchsia isn’t supposed to match her clothes, but her magic. But the colour of her aura clashes with her mane! And with a name like that, I doubt she could dye it a different colour. She won’t look good whatever she wears... What am I thinking!? I need to fight!
Esmeraude started laughing, a kind of loud and annoying high-pitched laughter that some snobbish unicorns mistakenly associated with high birth, and extended her arm, palm up, gathering magic energy, which quickly darkened from pink to almost black. At the same moment, Rarity turned to the side and bucked against the nearest store window. She needed ammunition.
What followed was a moment of utter consternation.
“What kind of glass is this?”
The window was bent out of shape, a web of cracks visible around the spot where Rarity kicked it. However, it refused to shatter, only deforming a bit more when she kicked it again.
“Why can’t I summon my minions?”
Esmeraude was staring at her palm where the ball of magic had fizzled out without any effect. She hesitated for several seconds, frowning, before forming another ball. This time it was meant as a weapon. When she looked up to aim it, however, she only saw Rarity’s tail disappearing behind the corner.
“Hey! Come back here and die!” She threw the ball, missing Rarity and hitting a shop on the other side of the crossing, deforming two adjacent windows and breaking their frames. She then teleported after the blast, blurring out of existence with a sound of static and reappearing where Rarity had been a moment before, ready to aim her next shot down the other corridor.
Rarity skidded across the smooth floor, frantically looking for cover. She managed to change direction, turning right and ducking into another store, just as another energy ball exploded behind her back. A moment later, Esmeraude appeared in the entrance. She was welcomed by row upon row of home appliances.
“Playing hide and seek, are we?”
She walked down the aisle, looking around. Toasters, irons, radios, washing machines... The far wall was covered with flat TV screens. There was a flash of blue aura and a trio of toasters rose from their shelf, flying at Esmeraude. She smacked them away with her fan, a discharge of black magic flinging them all across the room and forming a sudden gust of wind that knocked various goods off their places. One of the toasters hit a TV, cracking the screen. Esmeraude smirked. She gathered energy again and waved her hand across the room. The screens came to life, each displaying a leering Esmeraude’s face, all looking down at where Rarity was hiding. The room was filled with high-pitched laughter, repeated by dozens of voices.
Rarity stared with disbelief. This “human” was clearly a wizard and a powerful one. What could she do to save herself? Esmeraude rose into the air, looking down at her over the aisles. She was charging another energy blast. The screens had provided Rarity with a reflective surface, allowing her to attack while being unseen, but that was no longer possible. Worse, she was too short to see anything but the closest shelves. She threw the nearest item, some kind of juicer, at Esmeraude and then ran, staying low in hope of getting some cover. The next blast destroyed the shelf just behind her, so close that the blast knocked her forward on her face and pelted her backside with splinters. She rolled forward, wincing in pain as the tip of her horn briefly skidded against the floor. Regaining her footing, she found herself in an opening at the end of the aisle. Esmeraude was to her left, flying down to the floor and preparing to blast her.
The fashionista powered up her horn, taking a shot before Esmeraude finished charging her attack. The human prepared to block the blast, only to see it miss her and impact on the shelf behind her. She was about to respond with a much more precise shot when she felt movement from behind. A shelf full of extension cords had suddenly came to life, lashing with cables like some sort of a tentacle monster. Esmeraude shrieked as the first one wrapped around her wrist. Rarity kept focusing on the spell, bringing more and more cables against her opponent.
“Let... Go!”
Rarity fell on her back, knocked away by an explosion of force. Esmeraude was standing in an empty circle surrounded by a ring of burnt cables and charred wood, breathing heavily. “You... little... bitch!”
“A mare, actually.” The unicorn turned and ran towards the exit. Her trick had bought her a bit of time, but that was all she achieved. She needed to find...
There was a sound of static and Esmeraude appeared in the entrance to the shop, blocking the way out. Rarity changed direction, running left towards a glass wall. She knew better than to try a direct charge. Still, she needed to get out of this shop. The glass walls couldn’t be shattered, but perhaps... She charged her horn.
Esmeraude waited for a second as the unicorn disappeared behind the shelves again. Thanks to the TV screens she had a good idea where she was. Why was she running against a wall? There was a flash of magic and then an echo of hooves down the corridor. Puzzled, Esmeraude teleported to the corner of the shop where Rarity had run into. She gritted her teeth at what she saw. Where a store window should be, there now was a small double door, still swinging in the hinges, the glass neatly cut in the shape of two unicorns leaning in for a kiss.
***
Rarity peered from behind a shelf. She levitated a small compact mirror she had caught while running through a confections store and used it to take a look behind the corner. It was clear for the moment.
The last half an hour had been a wild chase through the floor, with Rarity moving from shop to shop in search of something she could use and Esmeraude blasting her way through everything in her path. The search provided a wealth of sharp objects to throw. Unfortunately, Esmeraude would just knock them away with blasts of magic from her fan. Attempts to lose her for a longer period of time proved futile as well; whenever the whitch lost Rarity for more than a moment, she would take off one of her earrings and extend it into a small pendulum, using it for some sort of divination magic. Also, last time they were running through the clothes store, she used her spells to bring some of the human ponyquins to life. They were now aiding her in her hunt, shambling around the stores like zombies.
One such monster had just entered the store, a tall, chalk-white male frame wearing a black suit. It loomed in the middle of the room, its flat, featureless head turning slowly, as if looking around despite having no eyes. Rarity closed the compact and braced herself. She had already come up with a plan, but that would require luring Esmeraude close to her. If she waited any longer, she might waste her chance.
Emerging from hiding, she ran across the room and down the stairs to the bottom floor of the large store. The ponyquin was slow to react, but she could hear it giving pursuit. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and stepped aside, before charging up a blast of magic, thinking of the contents of the first shop she had come into.
In a flash of blue magic, the shoes that the ponyquin was wearing were transformed into stilettos. The creature swayed, surprised by the sudden change of balance that came with high heels, before tumbling forward down the stairs and shattering to pieces. Rarity stared at it for a moment to confirm it moved no more, feeling a pang of guilt at ruining the suit, before ducking into cover. The noise was bound to bring Esmeraude here.
Sure enough, the witch appeared within seconds, teleporting into the store at the ground floor entrance. She had her pendulum-earring in one hand and her fan in the other. She approached the remains of her construct, looking around warily. Rarity breathed in deeply and then threw the first projectile, a chair from the cashier’s stand. There was a crashing sound as Esmeraude deflected it harmlessly. Rarity started running, fully aware that the sound of hooves on the tiled floor would give away her position. Sure enough, the coat hangers she had been hiding behind got blown away a moment later, the human giving chase with short teleport jumps. She turned one corner, than another. This side of the store had no window, instead ending with a solid brick outer wall. The unicorn was running out of places to run. Landing at the end of an aisle the Rarity had run into, Esmeraude prepared to finish her off... but the aisle was empty.
“Where is she...” The woman turned around, scanning her surroundings, the pendulum in her hand humming softly. Then she saw something in the corner of her eye. A shadow. One of the store lamps got knocked over during the previous chase through the store and was casting its light horizontally, through a long rack covered with light dresses. It cast a shadow on the wall, a shadow of a cowering pony with long, flowing mane. Smirking, Esmeraude walked in that direction. This aisle had a soft carpet, which muffled her steps. Her hand holding the pendulum glowed, the power focusing in the air near the tip of her fingers, darkening and thickening until it coalesced into a physical shape – a long, black, sharp crystal, slightly shorter than her arm. it crackled with a magical aura and then sped forward, shooting through the stack of dresses and the shape behind them. Esmeraude waved her pendulum and the dresses moved aside. However, instead of a fatally impaled unicorn, they revealed broken remains of a wooden chair and two mops. By the look of it, they must have been cut to shape and fitted together using magic, but now the impact had shattered them to pieces. Realizing the situation, Esmeraude turned around, ready to block an attack from the aisle behind her.
Instead, Rarity burst straight from the shelf next to her, charging through a small revolving door she had created with her magic and tackling her enemy into the cloth hangers on the opposite side, twisting in the air to grab Esmeraude’s magical fan with her teeth. There was a loud crash, the sound of many objects tumbling, finally the sound of hooves as Rarity ran off the carpet back onto tiled floor. She flung the fan under one of the shelves. It seemed her plan had worked. Using nothing more than basic fabrication spells she had used in her work and minor illusions developed for use in fashion shows, she had managed to trick a powerful wizard and deny her her defences. Now she just needed to...
She yelped in pain as another crystal javelin burst through the shelf next to her, grazing her ribs. A moment later, the whole shelf exploded, sending her tumbling on her side. Esmeraude rose into the air, still tangled in some scarves, her aura burning deep fuchsia to match her anger. She charged her magic with both hands; rather than powerful balls she had started with, she was now launching long salvos of minor blasts, like a magic machine gun, filling the air with flying bits of wood and torn fabric. Rarity was forced to duck and run, suddenly aware that she was quickly running out of available cover. Another piece of splintered wood hit the side of her head, leaving a nasty gash. She needed to strike back now – each blast Esmeraude fired could get lucky enough to score a direct hit. Without stopping, she focused her illusion magic again.
The light in the store dimmed. Esmeraude didn’t even notice until the next part of the illusion kicked in – the light from the few surviving lamps was redirected and focused towards her, creating an impromptu spotlight. Surprised, she paused for a second. Rarity knew why. She had used the spell before when presenting her new dresses line to Hoity Toity. One drawback of having the spotlight on you was limiting your view of the audience. She couldn’t create complete darkness, but the game of shadows and light bought her the time she needed to take aim. Esmeraude only had the time for a shriek of surprise as her own crystal javelin was flung back at her, hitting her squarely in the chest. She fell back, her flight magic disrupted, and tumbled to the ground.
There was a moment of complete silence. Rarity’s spell dissipated, revealing the completely ruined store. The unicorn was standing, all tense, her horn still glowing blue, ready to grab another object. A piece of a shattered mirror choose just that moment to fall out of its frame, breaking the silence, the last dying twitch of what had been a magnificent place of fashion. Rarity started breathing again and approached her fallen opponent.
Esmeraude was sprawled on her back, on top of a pile of broken wood that had been the store keeper’s desk. The crystal had hit her in the chest, right in the middle of the central gem, cracking its surface...
Rarity stepped back, but had no time to shield herself as Esmeraude’s eyes shot open. Tendrils of black lightning shot from the witch’s outstretched hands, striking the unicorn at point blank range and flinging her back. Esmeraude stumbled to her feet, holding the gem with one hand while using the other to pull the javelin free. She walked closer, firing another shot with her free hand, before rising her weapon to strike.
Through the haze of pain, Rarity saw the witch looming above her. It was too late to try to stand up. She just reached with her telekinesis, grabbing the crystal spike before it could be brought down on her. Esmeraude looked in surprise as blue aura enveloped her weapon. She struggled for a moment, trying to pull it free, before tapping into magic of her own. The blue and pink magic fought for control, but now the human was holding the weapon with both hands, her weight slowly pushing it down towards the unicorn’s chest. As she was trying with all her strength to stop the approaching doom, Rarity was desperately looking for a way to save herself. She knew her telekinesis was not strong enough to match her opponent’s magic. She had already used her limited illusion magic, her fabrication spells, her natural grace and agility. There was one last asset she had yet to use, one born of many frantic nights of work on her customers’ orders.
Esmeraude felt the resistance weaken, as if the unicorn’s magic had suddenly lost focus. She pushed harder, the tip of the crystal descending fast. However, before she could deal the killing blow, she stopped with a gasp, her magic aura disappearing as her focus was broken. A large piece of a broken mirror had pushed smoothly between her shoulder blades.
Telekinetic multitasking.
Rarity used the opening to push away, sending the javelin flying, before pushing herself back up and bucking with her hind legs, striking Esmeraude in the hips. The witch fell on her back, her eyes bulging from the pain as her own weight drove the deadly piece of glass all the way in. She stayed there, staring at the ceiling, a pool of red slowly growing underneath her.
Rarity stood on shaky legs, watching the body twitch, until a hum and a flash of magic informed her of the portal opening again. This confirmed the kill. Rarity made a mental note to remember it next time – until the portal opens, the enemy isn’t dead. She looked down at the body again.
I was lucky. That mare was a very dangerous foe... wait, that’s not the right word. She wasn’t pony-like at all. I think, she used the term “bitch”. She doesn’t look very dog-like either though... Perhaps it is a term humans use? Anyway, I better look for a drug store now. I need some bandages.
Turning away from the portal, Rarity left the store. She ached all over, covered in scratches, bruises and even burns. However, she hadn’t suffered any life threatening injuries. Some bandages and disinfectant should do for the time being. She knew walking through the portal would bring her body back to top shape, but what she really needed right now was clearing her mind. She didn’t know how many battles she would have to go through before an opportunity presented itself for escaping this nightmare. When it did, Twilight would probably be the first to notice it anyway. She was the magic expert of the group. This meant that there really was no hurry. Much as she wanted to go back home, ending the day with two digit body count wasn’t Rarity’s ambition. She was shaken as it was with her kills so far. If she wanted to avoid becoming a nervous wreck, she needed a moment to rest. Something familiar. Like fashion. Even if it was creepy human fashion.
She walked down the corridor, kicking an immobile human ponyquin as she passed it by, to make sure it wasn’t alive anymore. Somewhere in this giant bazaar there must have been some clothes store the witch hadn’t managed to wreck...