//------------------------------// // Fissures // Story: Broken Hearts and Lives // by Lunar Deviant //------------------------------// It was well into the afternoon by the time the carriage made it to Baltimare. The four bat ponies pulling them set down just outside the train station and soon Rarity and the Lieutenant were out. The five of them had a few quick words as Rarity looked around. She had been here before, but that had been over half a century ago, and the city had grown since then. There were many more high-rises dotting the skyline, and the harbor, which before was only a handful of piers, now stretched as far as she could see into the distance. She was so entranced by how much the city had changed she didn’t notice when the carriage flew off. “Shall we?” the lieutenant asked as he stepped up next to her. Rarity nodded and they set off from the train station deeper into the city. Rarity didn’t look over at the bat pony, but she did ask, “Do you have a proper name, lieutenant? Or should I continue to address you by your rank?” “Palus” he answered, and when she lifted her head he answered before she could ask, “It means the plains of the moon.” Rarity nodded, satisfied, as they walked among the tall buildings of the city she barely recognized. “Do you have a preference on accommodations miss?” he asked. “Preference?” Rarity perked, it had not even occur that her she would have a choice in where she lived, but being asked she had to admit, “My preference would be a long time ago in a place far from here, but that is not an option.” Though when she noticed the bat pony’s concerned look she quickly added, “Wherever is fine, Palus.” Palus nodded as he led her through the streets of the large city, “Believe it or not, I was born here, I assume that’s why Princess Luna chose me to assist you.” He said, trying to make idle conversation. Rarity’s ears turned in his direction, so he knew she was listening, but her eyes spent more time on the pavement than anywhere else. Rarity followed Palus through several streets from the train station before they turned onto a large boulevard and his chatter was broken with “Ah, and here it is.” Rarity took in a gasp when she looked up and saw the high-rise. The building was one of the tallest in the city and there was a sharply dressed bell-pony that held the door open for them as they walked into the entry hall and up to the nearby counter. “Palus, really, there is no need for extravagance.” Palus ignored her as he spoke to the pony behind the desk, “I need to see a list of the units you have available for immediate move-in.” The mare in the suit jacket looked up with an annoyed look, obviously about to dissuade the stallion of his notion that he could so quickly move in, but at the sight of his armor and his added, “Accommodations will be paid for by the treasury by decree of the Princess of the Night.” In a rather formal tone. The mare nodded got up to find the information he requested. Rarity’s attention left the two while the mare shuffled through papers to look around. This entry was very elegant between the marble floors, the hanging tapestries and the giant chandelier in the center of the room. Fifty years ago she would be excited to be staying in such a place. She would be entranced by all the fancy materials, but instead, now, the room felt cold. She wanted to appreciate the marble, but the reflective white surface struck her as empty. It was not as if the room was actually empty, there were more ponies here than just Palus, the reception pony and herself. Ponies were coming and going even as she stood there contemplating the place. She looked up at the chandelier, hoping that it would give the room the warmth that the marble seemed to be sucking from the space. She tried to appreciate the elegant light fixture. She wanted desperately to appreciate the shapes and the colors. It was like staring at a giant gathering of icicles. She squinted as she looked even more desperately, but the more she looked the more she swore there was no crystal up there, embraced by the intricate metalwork, but instead ice that had been fashioned into it instead. She opened her mouth to get Palus’ attention, but before she could speak a pony caught her attention in the corner of her vision. When she looked down she wanted to scream, but nothing came out. There, in the center of the room…. “Flitter?” Rarity muttered so quietly she wasn’t sure if she had spoken aloud or in her head. “Why?” Flitter asked, it was a voice, a tone, a pain she had heard every night for years, “What did I ever do to you?” Rarity closed her eyes tightly and shook her head, she didn’t want to see Flitter again, especially not how she saw her now, lying there in the center of the room with those hurt-filled eyes and soaked in… “Ready?” Palus asked as stepped up next to her, a key hanging from his wing, “Ma’am? Are you okay?” he asked, concerned when he saw that Rarity’s eyes were tightly shut. She opened her eyes again at the sound of his voice. Flitter was gone. Rarity looked around frantically for a moment, but the mare was gone. She took in and released a shaky breath before looking to the bay pony and faking a smile, at least after all the years she had not lost the ability to make a smile look genuine, “Sorry, reminiscing, I guess I got a bit lost in memories.” Palus nodded before leading the way over to the lift and offering for Rarity to enter first. When she was inside and the grate door was pulled shut she looked again at that spot in the center of the room. It was so vivid, so clear, Rarity would swear that flitter had been there, but how would no one else have noticed a mare in that state. How could she look the same after all this time? Rarity was silent as Palus led her out of the lift, passing the apartment doors on either side for the one at the very end of the small hall. He took the key from his wing to his teeth and opened the door with a soft click. She walked past him and through the door as he stood back, she was surprised to see the unit was fully furnished, and very nicely at that. The window curtains were pulled and light poured into the lounge while giving an amazing view of the Baltimare skyline and out over the bay in the distance. “Not a penthouse, but I suppose a floor from the top is just as well.” Palus spoke, obviously proud of his choice. He shut and locked the door before walking up to Rarity and asked, “Is it to your liking?” She turned her eyes from the amazing view and back to the elegant, expensive furniture, “Its… excessive.” She said softly, to his look of disappointment. “I thought that after all these years, a bit of comfort would make you happy.” Rarity laughed bitterly at the stallion, “I’m a horrible criminal, and you’re concerned with my comfort?” she spat at him, anger suddenly bubbling up in her. “That doesn’t matter. You have been pardoned.” He insisted. “So I’m pardoned, so what? I have no life, I don’t even exist!” Rarity stiffened while she screamed, not even realizing that she was screaming until the words were out of her mouth. “Then why am I taking to you if you do not exist?” he responded calmly. She huffed angrily, trotting a few paces forward in her aggravation and looking over her shoulder at him as she answered, her voice rising in volume rapidly, “Why are you talking to me indeed! Why are you even here Lieutenant?” Palus was a bit confused as he answered, “I do as ordered, Luna wants to see you rehabilitated.” “So she sends a solider, a stallion?” she continued to scream, her vision tinted red and all her mind went wild with memories of what she had done and began drawing wild conclusions about the princesses and, “You think me a fool?!” Palus took a small step closer as he tried to speak as soothing as he could, “Please, miss Rarity, calm down.” “Why? Is that why you’re here? To make me docile? Why are we here in this fucking place?!” “Rarity” She looked out the window again and didn’t see the city. Her eyes saw Flitter, as she had seen her for the countless nights previous. In that alley, in the diamond dog cave. She saw the poor mare’s face. She screamed shrilly and stomped her hooves. Palus tried to take another pace closer to the angry mare and insisted, “Why don’t we get you to bed, Miss Rarity? We can discuss it in the evening when we are rested and calm.” She stopped stamping her hooves and spat, “If that’s what you want then do it!” Setting her stance wide and locking her legs while lifting her tail and shifting it aside, presenting herself. “What are you doing?” He asked, very confused and retreated a few steps. “Bed, right? It’s no less than I deserve, I suppose. If this is what you want, then fucking take it!” Tears streamed down her face as she screamed. “That’s enough, you need to calm d-“ Palus began as he moved to walk up beside her and extended a wing to push her tail back down, but he never finished as she suddenly reared up and bucked his wing, an explosion of pain in the limb dazing him for a moment. “Do it damn you! Do it or I’ll… I’ll break every damned thing in this fucking cathouse!” She screamed as she walked around the room and began bucking and breaking everything she could, frames on the wall, lamps off tables, when she bucked the table her legs began to bleed from the sharp, shattered glass surface. “Make it hurt! Make me pay! I’ve waited fifty fucking years! Make us even you fucking bastard!” Rarity was so absorbed in her delirium she didn’t notice the bat pony regain his wits and come up behind her, she was about to buck another table when she was suddenly yanked up onto her rear hooves, one of Palus’ forelegs around her neck, squeezing tightly. “Shhhh…” Palus hissed softly into her ear as he squeezed the breath from her. Rarity tried to scream and struggle and fight him, but he held her fast and soon the edges of her vision began to blur. “Calm, Miss Rarity. Shhhhh…. Sleep, we’ll get you help, but for now, sleep.” He whispered into her ear, soft and calm. She tried to scream as everything went grey and out of focus, but no sound came out. Rarity gave one last firm struggle against the stallion guard’s firm grip before her body went suddenly limp and her world fell into darkness.