//------------------------------// // Necessary Roughness // Story: Waking up as Rarity. // by TonydBrony //------------------------------//         You know what that cold tile under my hooves felt like? Slick, freezing, and solid ice. I felt like I was going to slip and fall on my face, right in front of the other ponies and drag Jukebox with me. Everyone else would trip over me and fall. We’d all fall. Dominos, sand in an hourglass, whatever your preferred metaphor is... Right there, I knew full well that if I fail, if I surrender... I’d drag everyone down with me. I don’t know if you know this, but my... “Other half” is - was a very persistent and hard headed lad. I wanted to make him proud, I wanted to make my fellow ponies proud, and like hell was I going to lay down and give up! This one’s for all the chips. Bring it!         Clang! The unicorn next me, the field of magic surrounding the makeshift shield, it disappeared and she let the sheet of metal fall to the floor. She was shaking. Her eyes were glued to dead bolted door down the hall. Her breaths, quick and raspy - it’s as if she were hyperventilating... Wait, I think she is!         “Get ahold of yourself!” I said, and hooked a hoof around the unicorn’s neck and pulled her over to me. It was much more abrasive than I had meant, but... “Look at me!”         Her amber eyes were dilated, and everything else about her screamed she was mortified.         “I know you’re scared,” I said, and brought her close to my chest. She was sobbing, and I held her for a moment. In that moment I looked back to the four rows of ponies waiting behind us. Some, ready for whatever for whatever awaits us, others uneasy like before. “We all are.” I looked back to her, she looked up at me with watery eyes. “Be strong for me. Be strong for you!” I pointed a hoof at the ponies in line. “Be strong for them!”         “I- I can’t-”         “Bullshit you can’t!”         “But-” “No! No excuses! I’m not having any weaknesses in my front line! If you can’t handle the pressure, then switch places with somepony who can! Otherwise... Well, I guess I’ll just have to leave you behind.” “Y-You wouldn’t…!” Her voice cracked, and I saw through the split ends and stray hairs on her mane for a moment. Her mane was messily put up in a bun, one that once probably looked elegant with her amber eyes and curled eyelashes. Her coat was painted with a few spots of brown that contrasted against its natural candy apple red. She might’ve been pretty at some point. But now, she was like, like the rest of these ponies who hungered for fresh air. Dirty, scuffed, and scared. "I've been chased, bit, tackled, squeezed and had my face stuffed in far too many pairs of breasts. If you think for one second that I'm going to let these slack-jawed shit-stains tie me down, with the rest of these ponies and make me their marshmallow bitch, you, madam, are horribly mistaken.” I felt the tendrils of magic emanating from my horn pull the fallen piece of metal up in place of who wouldn’t stand up. KACHUNK! By the sound of the deadbolt being nearly torn off the other side of the door, it felt like this was the real, “nut up, or shut up,” moment that I would remember for years to come. The whir of magic pulling the other sheet of metal nearly threw me off balance. I glanced to my right to see the piss-pants unicorn who was just on the verge of a breakdown put on a game face that would’ve made her momma proud. Now that’s what I want to see, I mentally noted at the sudden gusto of the unicorn next to me. The squeak and squeal of rubber boots filled the hall, and if I wasn’t paying attention, I would’ve entirely missed the squad of men bearing down on us, the one in front sporting a riot shield! It had hairline cracks and bullet depressions over the majority of it, but it didn’t stop it from posing as a temporary, and I do mean temporary, wall in stopping our escape... I met the eyes of the shield toting guard and behind a face-mask, I saw the facade of hate itself. The man was chubby behind his uniform and his face unshaven. I had grit my teeth and defiantly raised my sheet of metal in opposition. This means war. “GAAANGWAAAAYY!!!” The shout rose up from back near the center of the Herd, and before my very eyes, that blue stallion from before started charging right out through our ranks! As he passed by me, I saw a look of fury in his grey eyes. He pounced into the air and collided with that fat riot shield cretin hooves first! His strike was so sudden and so unexpected that the guard just toppled over backwards into his slack-jawed buddies! Even I was surprised with the sudden show of bravery. I glanced over my shoulder to see a few of my ponies with faces of shock and disbelief. Sure enough, the trauma must’ve been the same on the PAPA’s side... “Now that’s what I want to see!” I shouted behind the ivory and gold scarf around my face. I knit my brow and yelled over my shoulder, “what are you waiting for?! He’s going to get creamed if we don’t help!” No sooner had the words bounded off my lips had I already threw my weight behind the metal panel and charged. Jukebox’s weight and possible reluctance to move slowed me down, but I wasn’t hesitant to give a loud, and possibly girly scream... of war, of course. I remember being told once that a great defense is a perfect offense. Maybe there’s some wisdom behind that statement, but given my situation, I felt that it was imperative to kick the shit out of the first two-legged fleshy being that stepped in way. Which I did. I pushed and shoved everything I had into the sheet metal, treating it like a battering ram, rather than the intended shield I had thought it would be. DINK! I hadn’t realized how high I had held the ‘shield’ when I charged. The metal bent inwards as it made contact with the nose and face of an unlucky guard with a baton raised. For a moment, it was like watching a cartoon. One of his teeth had fallen out, his eyes had went crosseyed, and he slowly tipped over until he collapsed into a heap on the tile. PA-PA-PANG! PO-PO-PONK! I dared to spare a glance to my right only to find...Who is this guy?! Now he’s got the riot shield, and he’s using it both to block tranquilizer fire and shove those grunts into each other. At most, it’s disorienting them, but that’s better than nothing. The piling up of unconscious guards was inspiring, and the blue stallion began trampling over them, not before knocking them down like dominoes, of course. “LOOK OUT!” Jukebox suddenly pulled me off to one side by the chain just in time to cause another guard’s taser to miss. The nerve! Firing while I was distracted! Not to mention the idea of getting tased again wasn’t exactly on my agenda. I gave a brief nod to Jukebox in thanks before glaring daggers at the man who was fumbling to load a second cartricharge into the stun gun he oh-so nearly hit me with. Only a few of the men stood conscious in the brutal beating of a breakout, and behind their ranks, I saw the flash of something metallic behind the rag-tag uniforms and tasers. DIN-ZZZT! Again, I had found myself staring off in space, and now my attention snapped back to reality, where the unicorn whom I threatened to leave behind, now bracing the metal panel I gave her with the ends of stun-gun electrodes sticking in the opposite side. The uppity unicorn, I wish I knew her name, yanked on the panel and jerked the taser out of the man’s hands with a grunt. It clattered to the ground and she twisted to the side, her impromptu shield tilted slightly. FOOSH! And just like that, the thin metal panel ripped through the air with a sudden toss, spinning through the air like a Frisbee. In a moment of needless lust for violence, I was almost hoping the man would get hit with the panel in some vital spot... But, despite these hicks being so inept, he twisted to the side at the last possible second, leaving the panel to fly horizontally by his face. So close... With a smug look on that smirking face of his, he almost seemed eager to brawl with us barehanded, but then… WHOOSH! BONK! He was beaned in the head by a flying riot shield! “And stay down!” That blue stallion shouted. Okay, that tears it, I have got to get his name after this! Nonetheless, I couldn’t help keep a grin off my face, even if it couldn’t be seen. Whoever he is, I’m proud of him. “Keep it up! Keep it up!” I shouted, and started to shove by the nameless unicorn. I threw a glance her way, hoping my eyes would show my appreciation for her bravado. She beamed with pride. Her eyes were dead set on the task at hand and her jaw was firm with her shiny white teeth braving the awful air of this place. I was about to take the scarf off my mouth and tell her how I proud I was of her, but some piercing screech shot by my ear, leaving me to jerk to the side out of reaction and tumble to the floor. Then, nothing. I heard the loud bang, similar to that of the one I heard when I was... ‘helping’ the government with some testing. My ears were ringing, and somewhere, someone was screaming. She fell. Whatever her name was, she collapsed on the floor. Her mouth was moving and tears fell over her cheeks as she was grabbing at something on her leg. I couldn’t hear her. Over the ringing the silence, I was deaf to the world. I twisted my head to see the last man standing. A short, lean man with a familiar looking piece of smoking metal in his hand. I glanced back to the unicorn. She was bleeding. She was shot. He shot her. I couldn’t hear my own voice, nor my breathing over the ringing in my head, but I most certainly felt the emerald and sapphire magic pull a tight grip around the discarded riot shield as it slid towards me. It. Is. ON! I felt no resistance as I charged at the lone man, with the riot shield outstretched towards him. Jukebox was running with me! A sudden impact against the shield made me jerk in surprise, but I didn’t stop running. I ran until I could see the whites of the auburn haired man’s eyes who shot my newly acquainted comrade. And I didn’t stop running when I was right on top of him. I shoved him hard in the chest with the dented and cracked shield until he tripped over his own feet. Even then, I didn’t stop my final assault. I pounced on him, shoving my dirtied hooves into his face, once- THUMP! Twice. THWACK! And a third time. Crunch. And now, he lay unconscious under my hooves, his nose bent in a more than painful looking direction. A small stream of red ran down his face, tracing a line down his cheek. At his side was the discarded pistol, silver-gray in all its ‘glory’. As much glory as a tool of death could have, anyway... I knew full well how much damage a firearm could do, and the sudden thought of me having to kill someone in order to defend the others dropped into my mind. “Whatever it takes,” I whispered and picked up the pistol in my magical aura. It was heavier than I expected, and carried it at neck height, pointing the barrel to the floor. The sound of fighting died and I stepped off the dead-weight of a man. I turned and looked at the ponies falling in line, circling the injured unicorn. From what I could see, only a meager few of the ponies sustained any injury, but the blatantly obvious of the bunch was the sole bullet wound that had gathered everyone’s attention. The ringing had subsided as I could hear my own hooves clip against the floor, nearing the unicorn in question. Despite having a bullet lodged in her leg, she looked surprisingly... Healthy? No, more like... determined. Her face was contorted into an expression of utter pain, but she was focused on her wound. Oh that’s not good, I mentally noted and hurriedly trotted to her. I opened my mouth to say something, anything to keep her from having a panic attack, but as I neared her, she raised a hoof in my direction with her eyes squeezed shut and a tight grimace set on her face. “Stop...” She said, quickly and pained. Her horn grew alit with a soft lilac shimmer. Her once amber eyes, were now a dark shade of blue, and the entirety of her visage was a collection of determination and the will to survive. “Just, back up, let me handle this.” She hissed, clearly pushing back every ounce of pain she’d been holding. The glow formed a small sphere and it dived into the wound. I wanted to say something in protest of her rash actions, but she’d already grabbed ahold of the lead buried in her leg before I could utter a word! Then, with a deep wince and sharp cry, she yanked that sucker right out! The bleeding increased immediately, and, for lack of anything else to do, I searched for something, anything I could offer her to help stop the bleeding and dress the wound. The guard uniforms glanced across my mind and I quickly pulled a one-eighty. I wasted no time grabbing a handful of the cloth that made up the nearest PAPA member’s shirt and tore it off. Admittedly, I probably should’ve used my magic, but in my haste, I bit the fabric off. It was cheaply made and tore easily, but thread prejudices aside, I galloped back to the nameless unicorn and tightly wrapped the makeshift bandage around her leg. She let out a sigh and wobbly stood up. Her eyes met mine and she did something I didn’t expect from her. She rose a hoof and thumped me in the chest with her hoof and furrowed her brow. “No one leaves Francine Sarah East behind.” She popped her heftlocks in some pseudo-professional fashion. “This photographer isn’t afraid of getting her hands dirty.” I couldn’t help but laugh to see the other side of the prissy unicorn I’d had the pleasure of getting to be acquainted with. Her demeanor had changed entirely. She stood up straight, her jaw set firmly, and she looked ready to spring into action at any moment. “Yeah, yeah,” I said, rubbing my chest and smiling. “I’m sure you’ve covered wars or something, but we’ve got to go.” I was satisfied in my work and didn’t give the gal a moment to respond, I finally was able to take in my surroundings, and I became acutely aware of a long drawn out shuffling coming from the other side of the room. Following the noise, I found that same stallion off near the door we’d all charged through just now, the door he’d led us through. I peered through the doorway, and there in a heap was one of the unconscious guards we’d just beaten. He was dragging them out of the room! Of course! We can’t take any chances of them waking up and causing us even more trouble. Good thinking...whoever you- No! I’m finding out who this guy is, right here and now! I lifted off the scarf from my face and put it down on my neck. “Hey! Tough guy!” I shouted and started in his direction, dragging Jukebox with me. He lifted his head and let out a muffled bit of nonsense in reply through a random oaf’s pant leg. “I can’t let you go and do all the work,” I joked and grabbed the other leg of the man he’d been dragging with magical assistance. “No, seriously.” My tone grew sharply serious as I looked to him. “Who are you?” The stallion let go his hold and got out of the way as my magic carried that particular nuisance out of here. He sat up and looked me straight in the eyes and said, plain as day. “Dan. My name is Dan.” “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Dan. I’m Rarity... Tony... Both.” He shook his head. “No, don’t call me ‘Mr. Dan’, that’s just...I don’t know, too formal. Danny’s fine. It’s what everybody else calls me.” “Well, Danny, I applaud your bravado and willingness to kick the ever living shit out some brainless idiots for the sake and safety of others.” I tossed the unconscious man down on the floor and sat up straight, then gave a flip of my mane for... I honestly don’t know why. Just seemed appropriate. He smiled. “Thanks. I...Gosh. I never thought I’d hear some say that to me before.” He looked like he was going to walk over, closer to me to talk, but his step faltered. “Easy there, killer,” I moved up to his side and acted as a living crutch. “Take five, but don’t fall too far behind.” I flashed him a smile and eased away from him. I looked back at the door that had been dead-bolted from our side and a shiver ran down my spine, remembering the pain of being tased, and the maddening feeling of being locked away like an animal. I shut the door, throwing my weight behind my hooves and locked the deadbolt after everypony was out. The last thing I needed was a panic-attack inducing flashback of being thrown in a cell. By the time I turned around, Danny had made his way over to one side of the room, away from most of the Herd, and was leaning one foreleg against the wall for support as he struggled to catch his breath. “Hey, big guy.” I called to him, feeling obligated to help him along, given that he put his life on the line for all of us. He turned his head to face me, and let out a half-hearted, “Hey.” My hooves clip-clopped across the tile as I trotted to him once again, and sat down, motioning for him to do the same. “You- uhh... Made me proud, by the way.” I set the borrowed firearm down on my opposite side and sighed. I looked back at him. Surely he understands the mess we’ve been through. “Why don’t you sit down for a moment? If we’re going to escape, I’d prefer that we’re not all exhausted.” I motioned to the locked door adjacent to us. “And I don’t think any of those assholes in there are getting back up anytime soon.” “Thanks again, Ma’am-” “Dude, call me Rarity or Tony.” After a moment’s confusion, he looked like he was finally coming back to us. “O-okay. Thanks, Rarity. Sorry about that. Force of habit.” I gave a shrug and smoothed out the stray hairs in mane. “It’s fine, honestly. I’m just not really... Well, I am used to it, but I’m not.” “Alright, I guess, so...I- where do you think we are?” As I opened my mouth to reply, I felt a tug on the chain connecting me to Jukebox. “Probably in the lower floors of wherever-in-hell we are,” he said, completely stealing my thunder... “No, I mean, where in the country? I took a nap in the back of a Walmart in Texas and woke up here. Does anyone here have a clue where we are?” “Ohio? Kentucky? Maine?” I started suggesting states that seemed like reasonable distances to have been taken from, but none of them really felt like they were ‘right’. It was like being in the middle of nowhere. Hey, maybe that’s where we are! “I really don’t know...” A cursory glance at the rest of the Herd told me they knew about the same amount. But now is not the time to lose our momentum! “Alright ponies!” I proclaimed, and stood up. “I know you’re all tired, but the fight isn’t over yet and I need you all to give everything you’ve got right now.” I spoke, for the first time, in a voice that carried both encouragement and real confidence behind it! This place, this awful hole in the ground won’t be holding me down much longer! I can feel it! “I don’t know what’s waiting for us up those stairs, but are we going to let them put us back in cages?!” “NO!” the Herd shouted in unison. Good. “We fight!” I raised a hoof, roaring with the sudden energy and adrenaline filling me. I grabbed the riot shield I had set down after locking the door back to the cell block and raised it too. “We fight!” I roared again, and stomped down, starting a slow gallop towards the staircase. “FIGHT!” “Nothing is impossible!” I locked the riot shield in place in front of me, levitating the pistol next to it. “YEAH!” If I looked as ferocious as felt, I’m sure the next PAPA member is going to run home to mama. The ponies behind me salvaged what meager armor, helmets, and weapons from the previously defeated guards and marched along behind me. In this glorious moment, I felt like we could take on the whole of PAPA and any and everything else that stood in my way! The Element of Generosity shimmered around my neck and the metallic necklace shifted into the soft silky scarf that has grown to accentuate my features well and give me a sense of bottomless courage. I pushed it up around my muzzle and braced for whatever would await us on the floors above. “Everything is a challenge, and WE WON’T BACK DOWN!” I declared and bucked the door open, breaking the wooden door off its hinges. The Herd behind me gave a final loud roar of freedom and their hooves pounded the floor behind me as my legs pushed me further and further up the stairs. At the top waited a bar-lever door, just waiting to be kicked open... And I did. I reared back and kicked it hard, nearly breaking the mechanism that kept it from slamming. I entered the alien hall that which I hadn’t been to, at least not consciously anyway. To my right was a black sign with big bold white letters. PONY PRISONERS. Hmpf. Not anymore, I thought to myself as the ponies filed out from the depths, filling the hallway. The chains that connected some of the ponies clattered idly as I pondered where we’d go from here. “We’ve got incoming,” Jukebox whispered in my ear as he pointed down the hall, where the sound of running stormed in our direction. I pushed my through the swathe of ponies and braced the shield in front of us. The pistol, which I was terrified in the thought of using, heldfast next to the shield and I let out a small sigh. Click. The chamber on the pistol clicked back, showing no rounds of ammunition chambered in the magazine. This sudden realization both frightened me, and calmed me. I tossed it aside and again prepared for the absolute worst of what could possibly be thrown at me now.   From around the corner stomped a woman who’d looked like she was a formal officer of the military, but I didn’t trust her. After I’d seen what PAPA was capable of, I was losing my trust of humans on a whole. Despite the bulletproof vest she wore, I was ready to charge her down if need be. She locked eyes with, and I stared back, letting the visual aggression of my demeanor do the talking. Behind the grit and dirt, I likely looked like an entirely different pony. “Stephanie Chase! CIA!” She proclaimed, but her voice gave me no solace, nor did it calm me in the slightest. If she was here to rescue us, I think she’s a little late... “Show us your identification, dear. I’d rather not be taken hostage by some bullshit vigilante after what we’ve been through.” My voice was a growl at this point, but the identifiable femininity to it was painfully obvious. This woman, whoever she is, reached into her vest pocket and tapped the silver shield on her vest. “No vigilantes here, Rarity,” she replied, as if she were going to melt at the sight of me. Whoever she was, she certainly wasn’t convincing me with her outrageous smile set on her face. Despite this, she flashed a very authentic looking badge. Stephanie Chase. This is too good to be true. “I’m here officially, and with Applejack.” Applejack. Memories by the bucketful flooded my mind at hearing her name. My dear Southern friend whom I cared so dearly for... She was safe. A wave of relief washed over me as I thought about the others whom might’ve shared a similar journey to what I’ve been through. She didn’t stop smiling, and she took a few steps closer. “Okay, look, we need to get you guys out of here. Show of hooves who is cuffed...” She jangled a set of keys around her finger. I gulped and looked back at my ponies. I lowered the shield and sighed again. “Very well... Everypony, be still and let Miss Chase here get you out of your chains.” I get a worried glance from Jukebox, but I nod to him and he seems to be reassured by the minor gesture. The ‘C.I.A’ woman approached us, only because I let her, and began unlocking the chains around our hooves. She glanced at me several times, throwing a smile or two, but I didn’t yet trust her enough to do the same. “Looking good, folks,” she said, tossing the last of the chains away. “Who’s sharp? I’m going to be at the front of this group, but I need someone who can watch our back.” “I can do it,” I spoke suddenly and rubbed my freed hooves together anxiously. With everypony now unchained, I’d imagined it’d be easy to move, and since I wasn’t bound to Jukebox any longer, I took the liberty of taking the flank of the group. “I am a fairly recent addition to our merry band of adventurers, so I have a bit more kick left in me.” With a burst of blue light, my scarf reverted to the natural Element of Generosity, swaying below my neck. “I figure there is no need to keep it hidden any longer,” I mutter, glancing at the gold and purple gem inlaid neck-piece. “Must… not… fangirl…” The C.I.A woman whispered to herself, adding to the creep factor I had decided to give her. She shook her head and her professional demeanor replaced her previous tone. “Okay, ponies. You’re gonna follow me. We have to pick up three more and then we’re out of here. Just stay quiet and together and we’ll get out of this just fine.” Despite the added mobility, the group moves painfully slow as we turn corner after corner of the labyrinthian compound. After we’d made a fair bit of headway, I resumed my position at the flank of the Herd in order to keep a sharp eye out for anything that could slow us down. It was then that I noticed that Francine, the photographer, was moving a bit more sluggishly than the rest of the Herd, all her previous bravado to the contrary, it would seem. I was about to come up alongside her when I saw her turn her head away from me. Over the sound of everypony’s hooves against the floor, I couldn’t make out much, but I did see a familiar shade of blue on the other side of her. Danny, what’re you doing? Before I could voice my objection, he ducked his head under her barrel, and lifted her up off the floor and onto his back, mid-gallop. He didn’t even break his stride. This “Danny”. I wonder what kind of person he really is. He seems to just keep coming out of nowhere and fixing problems left and right. It’s curious, to say the least, but as interesting as he...It! As interesting as this situation is, I can’t let it distract me too much. Onwards!. To what I hope is the outside world waiting for me. Hoo-fucking-rah.