Three sets of eyes settled on the alicorn. Nightmare Moon grinned cheekily as she eyed each one of them, giving them a solid examination while offering her most intimidating and bemusing smile. Rainbow Dash and Rarity exchanged a fearful glance, while Orange refused to look at anything, keeping her head hung low and her eyes shut tight.
Nopony spoke. Nightmare Moon, bothered by the silence, growled softly between her clenched teeth to fill the void.
“I know you're all thrilled to see me,” she told them mirthfully, “but please, don't everypony talk at once.”
Her self-assured display of confidence was enough to stir Rarity to action. “I see you finally decided to show your hideous face,” she spat. “Took you long enough, really. A week we've been here, guests in your castle, and you've finally worked up the nerve to talk to us instead of hiding behind henchponies.” As she spoke, she looked deep into Nightmare Moon's face, trying to glean her expression. Everypony could plainly see that the courage was a thinly disguised and coldly controlled rage. Yet the alicorn was stolid, and watching back. Analyzing. Rarity began to wonder exactly what they were up against.
In her world they had defeated the rogue princess before she had been given a chance to demonstrate any real sort of ability. Somehow, Rarity was convinced that stopping the other Nightmare Moon would be just as easy. But now that the princess of the night had a home field advantage and time to build a defense, Rarity began to realize that she wasn't just dealing with a petty grudge-bearer. She was dealing with a clever methodological petty grudge-bearer. A grudge-bearer that was waiting for the puny pegasus and frail unicorn to act first and waiting for them to mess up.
“Take note of this momentous occasion, little foals,” announced Nightmare Moon. “You proved yourselves to be enough of a nuisance that I had to step in and handle things directly. That's quite an accomplishment, you know. Your first real victory, and your last.
“So that's it, then?” asked Rainbow Dash. “Now you kill us?”
“Kill you? Is that your answer to everything? Don't project your primitive values onto me. Why would I kill you? Imagine if I had killed Trixie when she stepped out of line. I'd be out one of my most useful subordinates. Instead I helped her see the light, and look where it's gotten us. No, I'm not the killer here. But you almost caused the death of poor old Applejack tonight. What do you have to say for yourselves?”
By some mix of absurdity and incredulity, Rainbow wasn't sure how to respond to the claim. “What? We didn't try and kill her,”
Nightmare scoffed. “Really? I distinctly remember her saying you pushed her right off the railing. Or how about back in the dungeon, Rainbow Dash, when you offered to make sure she would never touch your precious Rarity again?” The alicorn looked out at the other ponies' surprised faces and chuckled. “Yes, that's right. I heard what you all were scheming down there. You can't hide from me; let that be lesson number one.”
Nightmare Moon stepped over the earth pony, her assuredly smug demeanor dropping instantly at the sight of the smaller mare. She struck the ground next to Orange's head with her hoof twice in succession, and the orange pony winced from the noise. She dared to glance up at the alicorn, but a single moment of the piercing stare was enough to make her duck back down and hide her head between her forehooves.
“While we have the time, let's get a few things straight,” lectured Nightmare Moon. “A pop quiz, to see how much you've been paying attention.” she chuckled haughtily, levitating Madame Orange close to her face. Lifting one of her hooves, she drew a line down the side of the earth pony's head, and when she reached the lower jaw, she gripped it tightly. Orange winced from discomfort. “What made you think you could escape me?” she seethed. “The night will last forever, now, just like I promised. I cherish the night for its beauty. All I want is to share that beauty with the rest of Equestria. And trying to leave the party before it's over? That's just rude.”
A flash of light overtook Rainbow Dash's vision, followed nearly immediately afterward by a crack, a sound Dash recognized as supersonic breach. The air between Nightmare Moon and Orange exploded, throwing the earth pony into the wall of the castle, where she crumpled to the ground.
Rainbow snapped, deciding immediately that Nightmare had crossed a line. “She's had enough,” she shouted. “She's not your servant anymore. You can't keep her here.”
“Oh, Rainbow Dash,” said Nightmare Moon condescendingly. “Why are you so convinced I've been holding her against her will? Orange chose me. She works for me because she wants to. In fact, her family isn't in any danger any more. I won't hurt them, because that would be far too bothersome, and I don't need it. She'll be my faithful servant regardless.”
“That's not true,” seethed Rainbow Dash, with a tinge of denial. “Applejack is done with you.”
“If you're right,” intoned Nightmare Moon, “then why isn't she speaking up for herself? Look at her. That's not the face of a pony who wants to be free.”
Rainbow, bitter and angry to prove the alicorn wrong, looked to Orange to ask the mare to back her up. She stopped when she noticed that Orange wasn't looking back at her. In fact, she wasn't looking at anything, her head buried into her chest, burning with resignation and shame.
“She won't back you up because she knows the truth. The truth is, I own her.” A single rough telekinetic yank brought Madame Orange back within Nightmare Moon's reach. “Isn't that right, sweetie?” she asked, her voice overflowing with belittling baby-talk. “I'm your excuse. You've hurt a lot of ponies, miss Orange. You killed the only mare you ever really trusted, and I didn't even tell you to do that. That one was all on your own. Talk about being proactive.”
“You're lying!” cried Rarity. “Applejack loved Twilight. You made her put that bomb on the ship.”
Nightmare Moon smirked. “Oh, really? Why don't you ask her that?”
“That's not true!” Rarity told Orange. “Please, tell me she's making that up.”
Orange didn't respond.
Nightmare Moon continued addressing Orange. “As long as you continue to work for me and do as I say, even if you tell yourself you're just biding your time until the day you betray me, especially if you tell yourself that, then it will give you a sense of relief. But you won't betray me. Deep down, we both know that. Because doing so would require you to face the fact that all that pain and suffering you've dished out because I told you to was for nothing. That's the truth of the matter. You need me, to ease your guilty conscience.”
She leaned in close to her captor, who squirmed in the grip, trying to pull her face away from the intimate confrontation. “You asked me why I refused to use magic to take away your self-control and make you my puppet. The truth is, miss Orange, that magic was never required. I don't need any special powers to make you a lifeless doll, because you already are one. And we both know it.”
The magic glow around Orange dissipated, who collapsed again, her limbs unable to support her.
Nightmare Moon turned to address the other ponies for the final time. “It was nice to have this chat,” she told them. “Consider this your warning. Go back to whatever world you came from, and I won't waste any more time with you. Very busy, you see, with a kingdom to run. But know that if I as much as see either of you again...” she trailed off, intending to allow the threat to remain unsaid.
“Then you'll kill us?” Rarity attempted to complete the sentence.
“Don't be barbaric,” moaned Nightmare Moon sarcastically. “Even then I won't kill you. No matter how much you beg.”
A sudden cold wind bit into Rarity's coat as Nightmare Moon floated above them, Madame Orange trailing behind her, once again wrapped in a magical grasp.
“What do you think?” Rarity asked Rainbow Dash, putting on the bravest front she could. “Are we going to settle for our lives?”
Rainbow forced a grin back. “Not a chance,” she announced before pushing off in full pursuit.
What abilities Nightmare Moon may have possessed in raw power, she lacked in reflexes. Unprepared for the assault, the alicorn was hit with the full force of the supersonic charge. The ponies were thrown into a spin, with Nightmare Moon barely managing to orient herself before hitting the ground. Rainbow Dash, taking advantage of the confusion, looped around and grabbed Orange out of the magic glow and carrying her back toward Rarity.
“So this is how you want to play the game,” muttered Nightmare Moon. “Pests. You should learn to be more deferent in the presence of a goddess.”
Rainbow smiled inwardly as she shifted Orange around one of her forelegs and picked up Rarity with the other. “So,” she grunted, as she struggled to lift both of her passengers into the air. “I think I've had enough excitement for one day, don't you?”
And then the air beneath Rainbow Dash exploded, tossing her head over tail. It took all of her strength to prevent the other two ponies from slipping from her grasp while she righted herself.
“Rainbow, dear...” warned Rarity.
“I noticed,” muttered Rainbow. “Hang on. I don't think she wants us to leave.” As she spoke, she weaved to her left to avoid a spark of light that had appeared on her right. A moment later, the spark similarly exploded, and Rainbow could feel the heat coming off of the blast. She averted her eyes and tried to put more strength into her wings. When she looked ahead again, she found herself nearly nose to nose with Nightmare Moon herself.
“Hello,” teased the alicorn, and Rainbow barely had time to dive down to avoid another head-on collision.
“You don't think she's just playing with us, do you?” asked Rarity as Rainbow banked sharply to avoid a pillar of earth that seemed to have grown up out of nowhere. She was now positioned in Rainbow's grasp so that she could see behind them. She watched as Nightmare Moon turned to face them, slowly and cautiously. The alicorn didn't seem to be bothered by the chase at all.
“If she is, then that's her mistake,” said Rainbow Dash as she began to gain altitude again. “Rainbow Dash does not play games.”
“But look at her,” remarked Rarity. “Or don't. I can see her fine. It's the look of somepony in control. She hasn't dropped that face this whole time. She has us right where she wants us.”
“Not for long. Hold on.” And with those words Rainbow Dash carried Rarity and Orange over a low wall, and Rarity watched the ground drop out from under her. The wall, she figured, must have served to prevent any unfortunate ponies from tumbling off the edge of the cliff where the palace was rooted.
Rarity barely had time to catch her breath before Rainbow closed her wings , and the ponies entered freefall.
Rarity made a mental note to kill Rainbow Dash as soon as she was done saving her life.
The wind rose into a ferocious storm that tore at her mane and drowned out all other sounds. How Rainbow hadn't dropped either of them yet, Rarity was clueless. Her vision began to narrow as the world closed in around her, continuing to hammer her from all sides and threatening to make her toss her lunch. This was asinine, she cried to herself. This was more than she had ever signed up for. This was... this was...
This was exhilarating.
She head was pointed upward and was kept in place by the wind; she had no idea how close she was to the ground. She could only stare back up as the mountain grew taller than she had ever thought possible, branches and rocks rushing past dangerously close to her head and adding to what looked like, from her vantage point, an impossible long road. And then she watched Nightmare Moon dive over the edge after them. And gain.
Her head still forced upward, Rarity didn't see the canopy until it slapped her across the back like an ocean filled with shards of glass. She winched as a particularly sharp branch slashed against her leg. But, still held in place by the rough winds and Rainbow's grip, she could do nothing to protect herself or control her descent. Rainbow, expecting the trees but unprepared for their assault, was similarly buffeted, losing control of her flight, bouncing off of trunks and branches like a glorified pinball. Fearing for the safety of her companions being dragged through the trees, she dropped Orange, planning to let her fall to the ground and pick her up there.
And then they were through the canopy, and Rainbow quickly re-extended her wings, although the influx of pain prevented her from opening them fully. She spotted Orange below them and dived, swooping her up again. From there, she began the process of navigating the tree trunks, often with less than a second between them coming into view and a narrow avoidance. Rarity gasped reflexively with each tree that narrowly missed them.
Rainbow had long since lost her sense of direction. She wasn't willing to rise up out of the canopy cover to figure out where she was, and she wasn't sure she'd be able to, in any case. The race was slowly beginning to take its toll on her stamina. It struck her as a bit atypical, that she should be tiring out so quickly. Although she figured that carrying two full-grown ponies wasn't very typical either. Still, the air around her felt heavy, both against her wings and in her breath. Her muscles ached as she strained against unfamiliar bonds.
Rainbow Dash's vision glowed a dull yet dark violet, and she found herself losing altitude. Unable to glide and maintain momentum, she switched tactics, resorting to flapping, and quickly came to a curious observation: her strain was only apparent in some of her motions. Raising her wings was easy, but lowering them, providing lift, was more difficult than she had ever remembered. Breathing in was somehow much easier than breathing out, as if the air wanted to fill her lungs. Unable to make sense of what was happening, Rainbow felt confusion and fear take over. The next tree seemed to come out of nowhere, and while she was able to avoid it, she was unable to make room for her companions.
The trunk slammed into Rarity's back legs and Orange's side, sending the trio tumbling and the two passenger ponies sailing out of Rainbow's grip. As she banked, eyes desperately scouring her surroundings, Rainbow Dash lost flight entirely.
Miraculously, she landed on her feet, but they buckled almost instantly. Her body felt sluggish, heavy, as if she were carrying a great weight. The dark violet light continued to surround her, and finally forced to consider it, she recognized it as a magical aura.
“Are we done yet?” called a chilling voice that seemed more bored than angry. With great effort, Rainbow managed to turn behind her in time to watch Nightmare Moon touch down at the edge of a nearby clearing.
Rainbow finally located Rarity and Orange, who had both managed to land within the clearing, both of which were surrounded with an even more intense glow than the one that seemed to be everywhere. No, not everywhere, she realized. Just in front of her eyes, and probably the rest of her body as well.
Three spells to limit their movement and keep them bound to the earth.
“Amazing what a simple gravity charm can do to a pony who depends on being lighter than air.” A tug around Rainbow's neck dragged her closer to Nightmare Moon and into the clearing where she stood. She was pulled until they were touching, the alicorn standing over her prone and frozen victim. “Like clipping wings. Now, let's discuss punishments. The problem with punishments is that they legitimize the infringement. They accept and acknowledge your deviant behavior as part of some system of justice. For some of you, the punishment is almost... gratifying. You'll take it with a smile. No. Punishing you wouldn't accomplish anything either.” Rainbow Dash struggled to breathe, a combination of the gravity spell and the alicorn's imposing presence. She felt as if a vice were pressing down on her lungs, adding a pain and light-headedness that made focusing difficult. She only had enough coherence for one thought: how terrified she was. When Nightmare Moon shrugged, offering a snort of disgust and then finally lifting herself off of the pegasus, Rainbow Dash managed to find another emotion: relief, mixed with a sense of shame at her inability to take charge of the situation.
“No,” mused Nightmare Moon in a way that was clearly scripted. “I can't punish you.” Her gaze fell on Rarity, who was teetering on the fringes of consciousness.
“I'll punish her instead.”
Momentary confusion gave way to horrified comprehension. “Wait, I...” Rainbow began, but she she realized Nightmare Moon was done paying any attention to her.
Rarity's eyes widened at the face looming above her. Any previous joviality was gone; she may have been toying with them before, thought Rarity, but now she was serious. The alicorn's horn lit, the dark violet light somehow seeming to blot out the starlight and make the world darker. Rarity winced in preparation of Nightmare Moon's revenge.
At first, nothing appeared to happen. The face of Nightmare Moon wavered behind a veil of magic, with a sharp gaze that made Rarity painfully self-aware. Her breath caught in her throat, and she forced it out only with difficulty. She felt as if a great weight were being pressed down on her chest, stretching out some limbs and constricting others. And then the feeling shifted, as if now there were something inside of her lungs trying to force its way out. She squirmed, pushed and pulled by the sudden weight that made her hooves feel like stone and filled her head with lead. Her mind even more sluggish than before, she danced on the verge of comprehension, only understanding on some basic level what Nightmare was doing.
Rainbow watched aghast as the strength of the gravity spell around Rarity increased, pinning her to the ground. Next to her, Madame Orange seemed to have finally cohered enough to take notice of her surroundings.
Drawing reserves of energy from within, Rarity attempted to use her front hooves to push herself up. As she began to rise, she saw Nightmare Moon frown and furrow her brow, exhibiting a minimal level of effort and exertion. The glow of her horn flickered momentarily, and the weight of Rarity's body doubled nearly instantly, and she collapsed to the ground again with a cry of pain. Her head was burning as the air threatened to crush her skull.
“I promise you she would scream if she could,” assured Nightmare Moon in a way that wasn't at all reassuring. “But screaming requires breath, which is a bit of a premium for her. I wonder if she'll asphyxiate before or after the pressure breaks her spine. Or maybe her heart will give out? I could reverse the spell and watch her catch the bends. So many ways she could go. Which one would you prefer?”
Slowly, the grin began to return to the alicorn's face. She turned back to Rainbow Dash to watch the effect that the punishment was having on her. Hopefully, she figured, this would teach the brash pegasus about the recklessness of her actions. Instead, she was shocked by a sight she hadn't considered, the reemergence of a variable she had presumed eliminated.
Madame Orange, despite her own gravity spell, had risen to her hooves in defiance. “Stop this,” the earth pony demanded with a calmness that shocked everypony. “Let her go.”
For a couple of seconds, Nightmare Moon was too shocked to do anything except stare, her jaw slightly agape as she struggled to understand the manner in which things had just taken a turn for the very very interesting. “I'm sorry?” she asked. “I must of misheard you.” The antagonism in the end of her sentence made its true meaning clear. She had misheard her. That was the story she was giving Orange a chance to confirm. Because otherwise, even the alicorn herself wasn't entirely sure what she would do.
She took a threatening step toward Orange, who took a corresponding step back. “I said,” stuttered Orange, her voice already cracking, “I s-said, let her go. Please. Don't hurt her like this.”
“Why?” The alicorn asked, not just to put Orange on the spot, to destroy her self-certainty, but also out of genuine curiosity. “Why do you care so much about what happens to her? Unless...” Recognition washed over Nightmare Moon, and she eased off on the confrontation. “I understand now,” she murmured, inspired. “This is just a Romeo and Juliet type story, isn't it? Of course, we all know how that ends.”
She began cackling gleefully, struck with inspiration. “You don't seem to understand how powerless you are. Perhaps I should show you just how much your lives are like putty in my hooves.”
A dark aura began shimmering around each of the other ponies, covering them. The magical glow lifted Rarity and Orange and dragged them close to a once-again grinning Nightmare Moon, while Rainbow Dash was pushed back against the ground.
“Loyalty is a finicky thing, Rainbow Dash. You know that better than most. It often asks us to take actions that are incompatible. It asks us to make tough decisions. It's not enough to just be loyal. You have to be loyal to something. Some cause.”
Rainbow began to form a sickening suspicion where this conversation was going, a suspicion further evinced by the brighter shine from the alicorn's horn. A dark mist seeped from her eyes, filling the space around her and suffocating her two hostages. And as Rainbow watched, the mist invaded the eyes of her companions, causing them to glaze over and lose focus. She couldn't tell if they were still conscious. When the mist dissipated, the two ponies hovered for a second, either knocked out or merely stunned, minuscule in comparison to the alicorn holding them. Then the magic around them faded and they collapsed to the ground.
“Rarity!” cried Rainbow as she made a dash toward her friend. To her surprise, Nightmare Moon let her.
“I'm okay,” groaned Rarity as she picked herself up and shakily returned to two hooves. “Check on Orange. Whatever Nightmare Moon was trying to do, I don't think it worked.” She paused and repeated the sentence silently to herself, as if she was checking to see how it tasted on her tongue. “That's funny,” she murmured.
Her confusion and hesitation triggered every fear in Rainbow Dash. “What's funny?” she cried, panicking. She grabbed Rarity roughly by the shoulders. “What happened? What did Nightmare Moon do to you?”
Rarity groaned and pushed Rainbow back onto all fours. “Calm down, Rainbow Dash,” she demanded. “This is hardly the time to throw yourself into hysteria. I am fine. Better than fine. I'm calm, which is something you could stand to be right now, too. We need to keep our heads level if we want to...” The unicorn trailed off as she stared out at something behind Rainbow. “Oh my,” she breathed.
“Rarity?” Failing to get her attention, Rainbow turned slowly to see what had captivated the unicorn, only to discover that she was looking at Nightmare Moon with a sense of wonder. “I don't get it. What's she doing?” Rarity's behavior was strange, thought Rianbow. She was almost acting like...
“She's beautiful,” said Rarity wistfully, and Rainbow Dash's heart froze in her chest.
“You didn't,” Rainbow told the alicorn. It wasn't the same reaction she herself had felt, but there was still only one good explanation for Rarity's behavior.
“Why thank you, Rarity. You're quite lovely yourself.” Nightmare Moon responded to the compliment with a fake sincerity that Rarity missed entirely. Instead, the unicorn seemed to melt under the praise.
Rarity broke into the most beaming grin and stomped her front hooves in excitement.
“Can you believe it?” she squealed to Rainbow Dash, a full octave above her normal voice. “Princess Luna talked to me! And she said I was lovely! Could this day get any better?”
Rainbow remembered how she had felt under the effects of the spell. It wasn't quite like this. Instead, she recalled a sense of pride. Nightmare Moon had trusted her with a very important mission, to create another bridge between the worlds. Rainbow had been thrilled at the prospect of being useful to the Queen. She wouldn't let her down. She couldn't. It was a completely irrational pride, Rainbow knew now, but at the time it had felt like the most natural thing in the world.
On the other side of the gathering, Madame Orange slowly pulled herself up, wrapping a leg around a tree for support. Rainbow watched her break into a relieved grin upon seeing Nightmare Moon, and she began to hobble toward the rest of the crowd, limping slightly.
“Change them back, Nightmare,” demanded Rainbow Dash.
“Rainbow!” cried Rarity. “Don't be rude to Luna by calling her such brutish names. She's the queen of Equestria.”
“Change them back?” asked Nightmare Moon playfully. “You need me to change them back? So you admit that I have complete control over their minds? That I can save them and you can't?”
Rainbow neighed furiously. “No, I...” Rainbow stumbled over her words, her tumultous demeanor from just seconds ago faltering. “That's not what I... release them, right now!”
“Already? But you haven't even seen the best part.” An aura once again lifted Rainbow into the air. By this time she had realized how little struggling accomplished, so she just crossed her forelegs and tried her best to look defiant. Nightmare Moon chuckled, amused, and then ignored her captive. “Rarity, Applejack, I have a favor to ask of you.”
Both the unicorn and the earth pony looked up expectantly, eager to please. “Of course,” said Madame Orange. “Anything I can do to make up for my mistakes. I didn't mean to try and leave you like that. It was stupid.”
The sincerity, and the almost stunted pattern of Orange's speech made twisted knots in Rainbow's stomach. Even having experienced the effects of mind magic herself, it still seemed unbelievable. She could think of nothing that could compare to this in terms of perversity.
The unsettling dissonance had no effect on Nightmare Moon, who continued with her own brand of disturbing sweetness. “My current captain is a bit busy at the moment, and I'm in need of a new second-in-command. I can only take one of you, unfortunately, so I need to find out which of you is more loyal and more deserving of this very privileged position. To that end, I'd like you two to demonstrate you commitment to me.”
“Anything, your Highness, if you'll take me back,” said Orange meekly.
Rarity was far more self-assured. “It would be the greatest honor of my career, dear Princess.”
“Fight to the death. The survivor will have pleased me and shall earn the honor of walking by my side.”
Rainbow choked in shock and horror. This was crazy, she told herself. But the sinking put in her stomach brought with it a glimmer of hope. When she had been asked to betray Rarity, the spell controlling her broke. Maybe it wasn't because she was the Element of Loyalty. Maybe it couldn't make anyone do anything that they didn't truly want to do. Like hurt a loved one. And while Rarity and Orange's situation was unique, they still counted as loved ones. They had to. True love conquers all, right? Rainbow thought. That's how every story ends, so it had to be...
“I understand,” said Orange, submitting herself entirely to Nightmare Moon's will.
“Anything you ask, your Majesty,” said Rarity with an enthusiastic grin, and Rainbow felt her world shatter. Rarity turned to Orange, and her voice became almost apologetic. “Sorry, darling. You're wonderful. But a chance to please the princess? You don't pass that up.”
Everything Rainbow had been banking on, every truth she knew, had dissipated in front of her. Every story was a lie. Real life didn't work that way. Real life was cruel and unforgiving.
And Rainbow realized that she was wasting her time cursing fates when she could be trying to change them. Nightmare Moon was trying to make a point. But in the Queen's excitement, she had slipped up by admitting something critical about her and Orange. And the mistake lent an opportunity for Rainbow Dash to make a point of her own.
Nightmare Moon didn't need to use mind-control, she had said, because she could manipulate Orange without it. As much trouble as Orange had been, Nightmare Moon had refrained from trying to control her for some reason. Most likely because she was not only useful, but more useful in her uncontrolled state. Which told Rainbow two things. Firstly, if Orange survived the fight, the mind spell would not permanent. The only reason Nightmare Moon had used it was to prove that she could.
Secondly, Nightmare Moon didn't want Orange dead at all. Everything happening was part of some elaborate scheme, an attempt by Nightmare to prove her supremacy.
Of course, this revelation wasn't going to do anything to stop her two friends from squaring off. And as long as she was restrained by magic, there wasn't much Rainbow could do to help. But just as this thought occurred to her, she felt herself be lowered back onto the ground.
“And you, on the other hand,” said Nightmare Moon, grinning sadistically, “are free to go.”
Rainbow wasn't sure she understood. “What?”
The alicorn stood stolidly and didn't reply. Rather, during the pause that passed, Nightmare Moon took note of the fact that Rainbow Dash was not running away. Not that she had any real reason to, she thought. She was hardly surprised when the pegasus instead ran into the fray.
“Rarity,” she cried, succeeding in catching her friend's attention. “Stop this right now!”
Although Rainbow saw Rarity acknowledge her, she wasn't sure the other mare had actually bothered to process what she was saying.
“Not now, Rainbow Dash,” said Rarity dismissively, shooing her away with one hoof instead of turning to look. “I'm a bit busy at the moment. Can we discuss this later?”
Rainbow's expression flattened. “Seriously?”
“I'm sorry, Rainbow Dash, but I'm in the middle of doing a favor for the Queen right now, and I'd really appreciate it if we could reschedule this conversation for a later time. I have work to do.”
Even after watching the scene unfold in front of her, even after feeling the effects of Nightmare Moon's magic for herself, Rainbow Dash couldn't believe what she was hearing. She grabbed Rarity roughly around the shoulders and dragged her friend's face close to hers.
“Are you kidding me?” she cried. “Look at what you're doing, Rarity. Look at what she's making you do. This is Applejack. The mare you forced me to go back for. The mare you refused to give up on and risked us to save. You can't tell me you care about her and then turn around and do this. It's not right.”
Displaying a startling degree of strength, Rarity twisted, throwing Rainbow off of her where she landed roughly on the ground. “Sacrifices have to be made,” barked Rarity with a rising anger that Rainbow hoped might be masking grief. “It's not optimal, but as you noted, I'm about to fight for my life, so I'd appreciate not being distracted.” A thundering of hoofbeats rising in intensity through her speech, and now apparent in her silence, stole Rarity's attention. Reacting too slowly, she turned in time for Madame Orange to tackle her to the ground.
Rainbow watched in grim fascination at the scene unfolding in front of her, waiting for a moment to intervene. In response to being knocked down, Rarity lashed out with her hind legs, eliciting a pained gasp from Orange, who fought back by attempting to clamp down with her jaws on Rarity's neck. But when the squirming mare beneath her refused to be taken so easily and drove a hoof into her jaw, she lost her grip. Seizing the moment, Rarity launched back toward Orange, this time on top. But her position was held for only a second before a renewed vigor from Orange sent the pair rolling across the forest floor.
The tumbling pair came to a halt against a tree, with Orange on top. As she paused to bask in her moment of triumph, Rainbow took action, looping her forearms around the mare and pulling her off of Rarity. Rainbow prayed that perhaps she could talk some sense into one of her friends.
“You can't do this,” she told the earth pony, who began to struggle against the grip. “I was beginning to think you were decent.” Orange's only response was a fierce kick backward into Rainbow's midsection, buckling her. Then the orange mare swung Rainbow above her head, displaying a surprising degree of strength (made less surprising when Rainbow Dash remembered that Orange was an earth pony and she was a pegasus), and knocking her against the closest tree.
In the moment that Rainbow Dash was too shocked to speak, Orange returned to face Rarity, who was by now beginning to stand up.
Of course she would behave this way. Rarity had enough kindred spirit to avoid attacking a friend. Orange had no such obligations. “I'm trying to help you!” Rainbow called out in frustration.
“Then stop trying,” came Madame Orange's curt reply before she attempted to cripple Rarity with a kick. Prepared, Rarity grabbed Orange's hoof and managed to push it to the side before it hit her. Thrown off balance, Orange stumbled briefly, and Rarity was ready to push her friend over and once again emerge on top.
Wanting to interfere again but not having the first clue how to go about it, Rainbow watched her two friends spar off. The battle seemed weighted heavily in Madame Orange's favor. Even though neither combatant was the physical type, unicorns really weren't built for a brawl. An earth pony, with her sturdiness and strength, was sure to have the upper hand. And as Orange landed what looked like a particularly painful blow against Rarity's leg, knocking her off balance, the conclusion seemed inevitable.
And yet Rarity wasn't one to just lie down and admit defeat. Where Orange had brute strength, she had cleverness. She had an eye for detail, and she could anticipate her opponent's attacks. Rolling with the punches, Rarity was never off of her feet for very long, quickly recovering and swinging back with attacks of her own. Orange attempted a follow-up strike to her last one, only for Rarity to grab the attacking leg in a telekinetic grip and driving her elbow into Orange's shoulder.
Magic. Rarity also had magic on her side, although this didn't occur to Rainbow until she saw it in action. This changed things. And then Rainbow Dash realized that she was actually thinking about which of her friends would succeed in killing the other, weighing and assessing their strengths. The morbidity of her own thought process frightened her. This wasn't the time for thinking. This was the time for action.
Before she could do anything, however, the clearing was showered in a warm bath of blue light that emanated from the branches of the trees. As the branches shook with a new ferocity. Rainbow glanced around in confusion, trying to identify the cause of the sudden illumination. Then she caught sight of Rarity, posed triumphantly at the edge of the clearing looking rather self-satisfied, her horn glowing brightly. Rainbow looked back at the trees, taking note of how they shook, as if a gale was passing through them. But she could not feel the wind.
She made the connection just as the leaves broke off of the trees, the fallen leaves on the ground levitating up and littering themselves throughout the sky. Picked up by an unfelt current, they swirled around until they had formed a shield around Rarity. Rainbow barely had time to dive for cover behind the closest tree when the leaves exploded outward, whistling through the air on their sharp edges. A muffled howl as Orange choked back a scream let Rainbow know that the earth mare wasn't quite as lucky.
Rarity may not have been able to summon an inferno or teleport, but being a one trick pony wasn't too much of a hindrance for someone as resourceful as Rarity.
Part of Rainbow wanted to check up on Orange, make sure she was okay. But when she saw Rarity heaving for breath, drained by the magical exertion, she recognized another chance to make a difference. She launched forward and forced Rarity to the ground, punching her horn and feeling incredibly guilty while doing so. The unicorn groaned from the blow to her sensitive limb.
“I'm not going to let you do this, Rarity,” ordered Rainbow between her bared teeth. “I will hold you down with my own hooves if I have to, but this nonsense ends now.”
“Let go of me, Rainbow Dash,” said Rarity, unable to manage more than a droll.
“No. You can't be going along with this. You just can't. You love her; you have to.”
She felt her hooves lose traction on the ground, if only briefly, as Rarity tried to force her off. This shouldn't be happening, she thought. There was no way Rarity could be stronger than her. There was no way she was going to allow this to happen.
“You're being irrational, Rainbow Dash. Give up.” The strength was returning to both Rarity's voice and her legs.
“Irrational? Me? Look at Applejack. Look at her, right in the eyes, and then tell me that you don't care about her.”
Rarity couldn't quite describe the feeling of Rainbow's words. Worse than being hit certainly. She felt ignored, angered by Rainbow's obliviousness. She felt insulted by her inability to understand. “Of course I care about her!” she cried, an anguished cry that struck Rainbow with needles and reminded her of a wounded animal. “Don't try and tell me I don't care, because I do! More than I care about you or me, I do! But it's not that simple!”
“Yes, it is that simple,” pleaded Rainbow in desperation. “Nightmare Moon can't force you to do what you don't want to do.”
Rarity's hoof froze midstep as she hesitated. “Rainbow?” she asked, but her voice was strained.
“She tortured you less than two minutes ago, remember? She nearly crushed you! Don't tell me you already forgot.”
“No, Rainbow Dash. I didn't forget. I remember everything clearly. And that's how I know it was all a misunderstanding.”
“A misunderstanding?” raged Rainbow Dash incredulously. “She tried to kill you!”
“And, to be fair, we were trying to dethrone her. But now we know that cooperation works out in everypony's favor. No more scheming, Rainbow Dash! Isn't that lovely?” The smile on Rarity's face was so wide that Rainbow Dash was afraid it would split open. She didn't seem genuinely excited, more...
Afraid, Rainbow realized. She couldn't explain why, but Rarity looked terrified. Desperate. As if convincing Rainbow to see things her was her only remaining resort to a manageable life.
“Listen to me, Rarity,” Rainbow urged, trying to be sympathetic. “She's brainwashing you. You aren't supposed to be this way!”
The smile persisted, but was shaken. “You think I don't know that?” Rarity asked, the terror now filling her voice as well.
Rainbow Dash froze. “What?”
And the facade dropped, Rarity's tone becoming spiteful. “Are you really so thick, Rainbow Dash? It's obvious what she's done to me. I used to hate her, she waved her horn, and now I don't. A foal could put two and two together.”
“Then why won't you let me fix you?”
“Because maybe I don't want to be fixed. I know I should, but I don't. And if you were loyal to me, if you even tried to be worthy of your Element, you'd let me do what I want to do.
“I'm trying to help.”
“No, you're trying to help yourself. You're trying to get what you want. You want the old Rarity back. You want to go back to fighting tooth and nail like savages, and you haven't even stopped to consider what the rest of us want. How could you be so selfish? Maybe I know that this is wrong. But right now, the only one making me hurt is you. Don't make me choose between you and Luna, because you'll lose.”
“I don't believe you,” whispered Rainbow. It was a stupid response, she knew, but it was the truth. The only weapon left in her arsenal was denial.
“Don't be my enemy, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity pleaded. Actually pleaded, Rainbow realized.
“That's not up to me. If you hit me, that's your choice. Always has been. If you don't want to fight me, then don't. Fight it. Remember who your friends are, and fight. It's that easy.”
Rarity tried once more to push Rainbow away from her, but her grip slackened as she hesitated. She seemed to be looking past Rainbow now, not focusing on anything real.
“I'm here, Rarity. I'm here. I know you can beat this, because we've been through tougher things before. And I believe in what we can accomplish as a team. All of us. Twilight doing all the nerdy research stuff, Applejack and I opening up a can of royal whoop-ass...”
“Stop” Rarity warned.
“And Spike. Don't forget about Spike. The way he does everything he can to help out, the adorable way he's always running after you...”
Rarity punched her friend in the gut, abandoning composure for effect and cutting off her friend's speech. “I'm serious, Rainbow Dash. Stop that right now. You don't need to remind me about them. Not when I'm trying so hard to forget.”
“Why would you want to forget? They're what we're fighting for.”
In truth, remembering back to her own time under the control of Nightmare's spell, she could begin to understand Rarity's actions. And the alicorn's words echoed again.
“Loyalty is a finicky thing, Rainbow Dash. You know that better than most. It often asks us to take actions that are incompatible. It asks us to make tough decisions. It's not enough to just be loyal. You have to be loyal to something. Some cause.”
Rarity had made up her mind about which cause she wanted to be loyal to. Which cause it was easier to be loyal to.
“No,” Rainbow breathed. “Please, Rarity, please don't give up like this. For me. For all of us.”
And the she noticed Rarity was crying. “Don't play this game with me,” the unicorn ordered. “Don't guilt me. I love you, Rainbow Dash. I love all of you. I know what I need to do, but... but...”
“She doesn't have to control you, Rarity. You can beat her.”
“No. I can't fight it, Rainbow. And I'm really sorry.”
Rainbow felt a streak of sharp pain blossom across her breast. Unsure what to make of it at first, Rainbow felt her strength give out. A numbness spread over her, as if her brain had been put on ice. The world was moving a glacial pace, but with all her thoughts purged from her mind, Rainbow was unable to keep up with it. She stumbled, and Rarity took advantage of her moment of weakness to push Rainbow off. Rarity was bleeding, Rainbow noticed, somewhere in the back of her thoughts. Her face was soaked red, the blood running down her horn, beading on her lashes.
Her horn was bleeding?
Rainbow's vision swam in front of her, and she wondered dully if perhaps Nightmare Moon was using another gravity spell. She felt so heavy, so off kilter. The dull ache in her breast ebbed and withered with her heartbeat, a persistent reminder something far away and yet a part of her wasn't working correctly.
A strained gurgling sound came from within her when she tried to breathe. The struggle to get air took what precious thinking power she still had. Stumbling backward to the edge of the clearing, she took in the fight continuing to play out before her. It felt like it was coming from very far away.
Orange was now struggling to stand, teetering unevenly on her legs and bleeding freely from a gash running along her chest and another on her right front leg. And yet she appeared to remain committed to the task at hand. She showed no signs of fear or any plans of admitting defeat.
The possibility that Rainbow had been struggling to deny now broke through to her. There was nothing she could do. Either Orange or Rarity was going to die. A stray thought that she could not control hoped it was Orange. But her previous conclusion, that Nightmare Moon wanted Orange alive (supported by her interference with the mare's suicide attempt) did not make her hopeful about the future.
Above them, Nightmare Moon sat on a cloud of dark purple vapor, having levitated for safety and to provide the combatants more room in which to brawl. Noticing Orange's resilience, but also her wear and weariness, barked an order at Rarity: “Finish her.”
“Of course,” came Rarity's curt reply, and Rainbow felt another part of her heart break away. It was no longer just a crisis of her world-view. Somehow, watching her friend be bent so easily by a single magical spell had triggered a crisis of identity inside Rainbow Dash. If magic could so easily remake a pony, then what were they, really?
Rarity launched forward, rapidly closing the distance between her and Orange. Nightmare Moon once again fell silent, content to not interfere.
The chilling resignation had overcome every other thought in Rainbow Dash. She tried to comfort herself in the fact that Rarity likely was not going to die.
Instead, she would become a killer.
The world around Rainbow exploded into action as a fire brewed up from some unknown reservoir within her. The frozenness shattered as Rainbow realized that Rarity becoming a killer was the one thing she absolutely could not permit to happen.
“STOP! EVERYBODY STOP!”
To Rainbow Dash's complete and utter astonishment, it worked. Rarity and Orange both paused their attacks and turned their heads. Rainbow realized it would be a matter of seconds before one of them realized the other was distracted and landed a killing blow. And so she used her precious seconds to do the one thing left that might actually save her friends, as slim as the odds might be.
“Change them back,” she pleaded with Nightmare Moon. “You can change them back, right?” She tried as hard as she could to sound in control of the situation, but her intimidation was no doubt limited by the fact that she was bleeding out into the ground. She got the feeling she wasn't fooling anyone.
Nightmare Moon, intrigued by Rainbow's sudden desperation, saw no harm in playing along. “Very well. Take five, darlings,” she addressed the fighters, who immediately relaxed their stance and collapsed into each other's embrace, murmuring assurances to each other. “You've done well,” the alicorn added, and an almost orgasmic shudder passed over the two victims of the spell. Rainbow felt the memory of the spell's effects tease at her, and she was disgusted by the way it made her feel.
Nightmare lifted off the cloud and vanished into smoke, which winded down and reformed, standing over Rainbow triumphantly. “Are you willing to admit that you can't save your friends on your own?” she asked tauntingly. “That I'm more powerful than you could ever be?”
The question hung in the air. It didn't seem to be rhetorical; Nightmare Moon was actually leaning forward to better hear the answer. And while Rainbow Dash didn't know the honest answer to the question, she knew what answer might save her friends.
“Yes. You win.”
Nightmare Moon basked in the glow of her victory. And then she asked her next question. “Would you perform a Sonic Rainboom for me?”