//------------------------------// // Act 4 chapter 2 // Story: Diamonds are a girl's worst enemy // by Rarity Belle //------------------------------// Twilight continued to look at the ball of crystal before she finally began to realize just what was going on in its fullest. She knew that it was Rarity, of course she knew that. There was no doubt about that to begin with even. Yet what still boiled in her mind was just the question of why? To her it seemed like it was nothing more but a dream. She didn't feel herself in the real world anymore actually.         Fantasy had taken almost taken her body over until she realized one rather important aspect, she didn't know Rarity’s state of mind. It was a fact that frightened her more than it originally should have and she released a gulp in the process. There were a couple of steps that were taken back by the mare before she touched the foot of the altar with her bum.         It was in that little moment that she began to realize that she was trapped. The only way to get out of the place was to fight her way through. But Twilight wasn't completely without reason. She wanted –if not needed– to know why one of her best friends in the entire world had basically left her for dead. She deserved that to know for herself.         Yet she also knew that the crystals would be able to block any kind of magical spell that she had within her arsenal. So the only thing that she could do was to wait. Wait for the beast to be released. To stand face to face with the horror that Rarity became in the aftermath of their experiment.         Slowly but surely did the crystalline arms remove themselves from their master. One by one they crammed themselves into the ground while the hissing roar came from the mare. It was a sound that Twilight had never heard from Rarity before. She became frightened. Yet she knew that if she showed any piece of her fear towards the maddened unicorn, everything would be just over.         She had to keep herself tough as she looked over to the ivory white colored body with the messy purple hair. “What happened to you?” she dared to ask with a strong tone. Though where she thought that the question was inaudible, it was actually spoken up in her normal volume.         That very question caused the head of the mare to rise up and the eyes looked straight into one another. The things that Twilight saw were horrible to say the least. Not to mention the fact that they still looked, or screamed, that they had seen a ghost. Yet in return got Rarity the idea that it was the real Twilight who stood there.         The real Twilight had somehow managed to cheat death itself. Not that it filled her body or mind with anything of glee. Instead it only continued to fill her anger. For the fact that she had gone both crazy and into hiding while it wasn't truly necessary. Yet there was nopony else to blame for that, outside of herself.         Her lips then moved themselves away from the teeth by being pulled up and that allowed Twilight to see the horrid truth. “No,” was all that she could bring out. Then the eyes took an even deeper and better look. It was impossible for the unicorn to even begin to understand the changes that her friend had gone through.         The blood stained teeth, the jagged teeth themselves even, this was no longer the friend that she knew and loved. This, was a monster straight out of a Mare-Do-Well comic. “You look like you have seen a ghost, Rarity,” Twilight eventually dared to speak. Even though her tone sounded tough and prepared, she had not a clue as of what the other mare would be doing to her sooner or later. ---                      Yet despite her monstrous appearance and actual lack of any decency, Rarity still seemed to be able to talk in her normal manner. “That’s because of the rather simple reason that I have seen a ghost, Sparkle,” Rarity huffed out to the other mare. The arms loosened themselves from the ground and assumed a bit more of a peaceful position.         The mares never lost their eye contact. Though those very same eyes were growing with nothing but hatred. Hatred for one another given the deeds that were once done to them. “You left me for dead in my own library. It is because of you,” the mare spoke up before she stomped her gem leg into the ground and growled loudly, “I’m needing to walk with this thing!” It didn't happen often that Twilight herself became angry about something, but Rarity had managed to do just that.         “You didn't breath, you didn't even move at the time. I thought you were dead, suppose I am not a cold blooded murderer after all,” replied Rarity in a stone cold tone. She turned her body away from Twilight. “You know, I have been thinking about certain things left and right thanks to my time here.” Twilight saw how the eyes of Rarity closed themselves for just a moment.         “And that being?” Twilight questioned to her friend. She had to admit that she didn’t had a clue of what Rarity meant. She didn't even wanted to believe the words that were spoken in the first place to begin with. Yet then she noticed a little thing about Rarity’s posture. The fact that she was walking, starting to circle towards Twilight.         The unicorn understood immediately what the plan was and began to circle with Rarity. Resulting in both of the mares walking around while still keeping their eyes firm on the other. The flashes of lightning shot past the windows as the rain hailed against it. “Everything that ever happened in my life, can be brought directly into contact with nopony else then you. Things that I personally never wanted to do or even have. I never wanted, to become an element…yet you bombed me to it.”         “What is your point?!” Twilight exclaimed before she noticed that Rarity was standing before the altar of harmony with a grin.         “Noticed anything missing? I resigned!”         Those words caused the eyes of the other unicorn to widen themselves. She couldn't even comprehend them. After everything that the two of them had done, they would be parting like that. It was just absolute madness and Twilight didn't even knew on which facts to focus herself on. The one that her friend had turned into a monster, said friend tried to kill her, or that Equestria was now left defenseless.         “Y-You can’t! E-Equestria needs, the elements,” stuttered Twilight to her. Then she reached for her head. Yet on the other end of the spectrum was Rarity laughing like a true maniac. She almost found it amusing to torture the mare even more for whatever reason.         “Oh I can, it was hard to break the shield, but once that orb fell down on the ground and got smashed, well, allow me to put it this way: run, for you dear little lives,” returned Rarity before she rose up on the arms and just casually hung in the air.         “Your necklace, is still intact though. …But without the stone, rendered powerless.” Silence took the mare over as she continued to quickly tie every single knot together that was still there. Only to come down to perhaps the most horrible conclusion that there was.         Two mares of power, one in the arcane arts and the other in the crystalline, were standing against one another and ready for any- and everything. The events leading up to last deed were nearly unspeakable. Their very friendship was about to be obliterated into nothing but the same dust they walked through from time to time. Equestria without the elements of harmony would have become a paradise for any power-hungry force that wanted to overthrow the ponies.         Yet little did either of the mares knew, that the biggest forces in the land knew that for a long time already. Nor was it a coincidence that Rarity and Twilight faced one another on that particular day. Everything went according to plan, a plan that must never be spoken of by any being.