Act III: Collision of Wills
Chapter 31: Double Dream Battle
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John had only been gone for a few seconds now. Rarity and the Kurama of this dream had yet to move from their spots.
“Now that he’s out of the way, tell me,” Kurama said, “What hope do you believe to have?” He took a few, slow steps forward. Rarity, however, stayed where she was, tapping her chin as though she was carefully contemplating Kurama’s question.
“I’d have wondered that myself had this been happening in the real world,” she said, “Of course, my magic is stronger than it has been for most of my life. But you just seemed to blow that away in only a few days,” It was odd. She spoke in a casual tone. Kurama thought she’d definitely be more concerned.
“You are aware that your friend made the wrong choice, aren’t you?” At that moment, the smile on Rarity’s face faded, but not from fear. She looked towards Kurama, every part of her expression saying that she was ready to fight.
“Fully,” The ground from behind Rarity exploded as something began to rise up from under it. Within a few seconds, it was not only revealed to be another home, it was also her own home and boutique. The doors opened, and several of her mannequins quickly bolted out and towards Kurama. Though there were many, Kurama’s tails made short work of the ones that grew too close.
But as Kurama was occupied with them, he hadn’t noticed something else floating out of Rarity’s boutique: a small box lined with diamonds. It levitated towards her hand. By the time Kurama was done with the mannequins, Rarity had opened the box.
“I must say, your efforts are quite subpar compared to the others,” Kurama mocked, but Rarity seemed to ignore him.
“You know, I’ve been a fashion designer for years now, having made a wide variety of dresses and the like for hundreds of ponies. But while I strive to make some of the most fabulous of designs, there are times where I’ll have some fun and make something else,” Kurama arched a brow at Rarity.
“What are you talking about?”
“Costumes, dear, or ‘cosplay’, as the youth prefer to call it. I get many commissions for various conventions throughout the year,” Rarity reached into the box she was holding and began to pull out its contents, “They are all so colorful and creative that I simply can’t refuse the offer to recreate an exact copy of it for one to wear. To do that, I have had to read through the sources so I could get every last detail right. But of all that I’ve researched, there was one that I found myself drawn to, a guilty pleasure, if you will.”
Rarity allowed the box to drop to the ground, now wearing two bracelets that seemed to be made of several sapphires.
“I went as far to read her comics and learn every detail of her I could,” The bracelets started to glow bright blue, a magical glow of the same color beginning to surround Rarity’s body, “I daresay that this character suits me perfectly.”
The glow finally faded, revealing a change of her clothes. She was now wearing dark blue spandex with several diamonds like her cutie mark throughout the design. Around her neck was a necklace with a larger sapphire within it. She raised her hand and placed it over hear face, and a mask appeared over her face, completing the outfit. Finally, a sapphire glow emanated from around her body, and she rose from the ground.
“Radiant, isn’t it?”
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Stupid! How could I have been so stupid!?
John had continued to ask himself this from the moment he learned that he had been tricked. Now, he stood in the middle of the rocky terrain, being stared down upon by the creature in front of him. He guessed that it was probably forged from a pony’s dream, and was fueled by Kurama’s magic. There was no mistake about the second thing, at least; he could feel the dark magic oozing from its core.
Every part of him wanted nothing more than to turn back to Rarity and help her, but he couldn’t let this thing run loose and possibly get to other dreams. Though in reality, he didn’t have a choice in the matter. The creature raised its blade not long after it finished its sole sentence and brought it down with great strength. John flew out of the way of the blade, allowing it to cut into the earth where he once stood.
Before the blade could be lifted, John flew straight for the monster’s heads, bringing one fist back. He struck one hard enough to cause it to flinch back, but it didn’t move far and was almost instantly ready to counter. One of its four hands came around, smacking John out of the air like a fly. John crashed into one of the rocky spires, causing it to topple over. John grunted from the impact and shook his head. This monster could hit hard…
“But so can I!” John launched off the spire hard enough to cause the rest of it to topple over from the force. The monster swung its blade again, but John had managed to avoid this one too and prepare for the follow-up. One of the creature’s hands had come not long after John pulled back his arm and he met the monster’s fist with his own. The force of the impact caused both of them to recoil. Unfortunately for John, however, he wasn’t able to react fast enough and could do nothing but watch as the monster’s tail was brought down over him.
The ground cracked from the force of the impact, giving way to a larger crater. When the ground settled, the monster waited, looking for any sign of movement. When none came, the monster’s heads gave out a unified laugh. It then began to retract its tail, only to notice that something was keeping it from moving.
Its tail then began to rise up, something under it lifting it from the ground. Before the monster could even question what was happening it found itself being pulled against its will. Its body was lifted off the ground and tossed, causing it to fly and crash through several spires. It finally came to a stop, the force enough to make him drop its sword.
From the crater the monster had created, John shot out, flying up into the sky once again. Looking down at the still-recovering creature, John dive bombed as quickly as he could, falling like a comet. Finally, he made impact with the creature hard enough to cause yet another crater, but he wasn’t done there. One strike after another, John began whacking at it, each punch causing its body to recoil. He knew he had to finish this creature; he had no time to waste here. However, the monster he was fighting wasn’t showing any signs of giving up any time soon.
Between the impacts, it managed to retaliate, one of its hands grabbing on to John and restricting his movements. The monster then recovered, standing straight up on its tail, all of its eyes looking down on the dragon. John had a pretty good idea of what the monster had in mind, but he wasn’t about to let that happen. John opened his mouth and let out a powerful blast of fire which not only blinded the monster, but set it on fire. The monster belted out a roar as it let go of John and tried to put out the flames on its body.
Before it could, though, John was capable of delivering an uppercut that sent the beast backwards. As it fell back, it managed to swing its tail to send John back as well, both crashing near simultaneously. While both went down, though, neither was willing to stay down for very long. The fire around the monster had gone out due to the rubble from its crash. Getting back up, it recovered its sword once again and waited for the oncoming dragon.
He was proving stronger than John had expected. He knew this was going to take a while longer than he would have liked, but he wasn’t going to slow down. He was going to keep fighting and finish this monster off.
Just hold on a little longer, Rarity…
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To say that Rarity had surprised Kurama would be an understatement. He had faced ponies and the like who had used the same strategy she was deploying now. There was something different about hers, however; even for a dream she was proving much more capable than he would have expected. From what he could piece together, the character Rarity was playing as had the ability to make magical constructs at will. Right now, Rarity seemed content in spawning several large sewing needles and launching them at him.
With each that flew, Kurama had to dodge, the needles piercing through the ground with little to no trouble. All the while, Rarity remained floating in the air, carefully watching Kurama’s movements. As time went on, Kurama grew weary of the constant dodging, refusing to be pushed back by her any longer. Raising his tails, Kurama whipped around and managed to strike one of the oncoming needles. But that wasn’t the only one, with every new needle that Rarity forged Kurama would deflect it in the same manner. No longer needing to dodge, Kurama began to walk toward Rarity at a slow pace. Knowing her tactics were no longer working, Rarity ceased her attack.
“Is that all?” Kurama asked with a head tilt, almost disappointed in the efforts she had displayed. Rarity seemed to share in this expression as well, but that soon turned into a smirk. Extending her arms, Rarity’s hands began to glow brighter. Kurama wondered just what could come next, only to feel something wrap around his ankle. But this wasn’t the only one; several other string-like objects ejected from the ground and began to wrap around various parts of his body. At first, he wondered just how she’d managed to make something from under him, but soon he realized how.
“The needles…?” He thought that they had vanished the moment they’d pierced the ground, but he was wrong. Rarity had intended to reuse them from the start. The strands began to pull on Kurama’s body, causing him to sink into the ground. The more he struggled, the more strands wrapped around him. All of them continued to pull down on him until his whole body was submerged into the earth. Several tense seconds passed after that with Rarity waiting to see if anything would happen. When all stayed quiet, though, she let out a sigh.
“Well now,” she said, “That should hold you until—“ Her sentence broke as the ground holding Kurama suddenly erupted. Rarity put up a shield to block the smoldering rocks and the intense heat coming from the crater. Kurama walked out of the carnage, his body wreathed in flames.
“I must say, you’ve managed to put up one of the best fights so far,” As he spoke, the fire around Kurama grew stronger, and to Rarity’s surprise, one more tail began to sprout, joining the other three, “Allow me to return the favor.”
Rarity gave a small gulp. She knew, though, that she’d be lying if she really thought it would be that easy. She’d hoped that being positive about the outcome of this fight would be all she’d needed. She’d also seen time and again, with all that had happened, that it would take for more than that.
Kurama’s tails shot towards Rarity at a great speed, magic engulfing all four of them. Rarity wasn’t going to back down; she extended her hands once again and formed four magical hands and sent them to meet the oncoming tails. All eight made contact with one another, struggling to push forward to their respective targets. Rarity grunted under the pressure, but she wasn’t going to let herself be pushed back now. From two of the hands currently held in place, another two extended out, flying at Kurama.
Kurama managed to avoid one, but due to his tails being held, he couldn’t dodge the other which struck him square in the chest. Kurama scowled from being struck again, his tails beginning to vibrate. They then began to spin quickly, drilling through the hands holding them and causing them to shatter. The tails then continued on their path towards Rarity, but she was ready for them. Placing her hands on the floor, Rarity’s gems created several walls between her and the oncoming tails. With each wall they struck, they managed to pierce right through them, but as they went on they began to slow down. It wasn’t until they’d struck the final wall that they finally came to a stop, only succeeding in cracking it.
Quickly, Rarity closed her hands, causing the wall to wrap itself around Kurama’s tails. The wall then turned into a clamp which tightened itself around the tails. For good measure, Rarity had the clamp bolted to the ground to ensure that they wouldn’t move. Now that she had them taken care of, Rarity flew towards Kurama. As she flew, she pulled a fist back, lowered to next to her hip. As her bracelets began to glow, a torso holding the same pose appearing in front of her. When she was in range, her construct launched its fist in an upward swing, striking Kurama and sending him upwards. At the same time, Rarity released her hold of Kurama’s tails and allowed him to fly up into the sky. Rarity held her hand over her head as she watched Kurama soar higher and higher, completely satisfied with what she’d done.
That feeling soon vanished when she noticed several glowing orbs forming in the sky. She wasn’t sure what they were, but there were many, and their numbers were growing. When she noticed them growing larger, she realized they were falling, and she needed to move. Not stopping for a moment, Rarity began to avoid the falling balls of fire. Each exploded on contact with the ground; there was no way she could afford to be struck by one. But she also couldn’t just avoid them forever.
Rarity’s flight changed direction. This time, she began to ascend higher to the sky, avoiding oncoming fireballs. As she got higher she started to make out Kurama as he continued to conjure his assault. Now able to see her target, she formed several sapphires around her and launched them forward towards him. Some came into contact with falling balls of fire, but there were others capable of going unobstructed. Kurama halted in his magic cast and evaded the oncoming sapphires, some of which didn’t come anywhere close to him.
“Your aim is slipping,” he commented, already in the process of making a counterattack.
“Are you sure about that?” Rarity asked with one finger pointed out. Kurama slowly turned his head in the direction she was indicated, and he saw it. The sapphires he had avoided hadn’t kept going. Instead, they had stopped in an area around him. As he looked around, he saw that they had surrounded him completely. Rarity extended her hands outwards, causing the sapphires to glow brightly, and when she clapped her hands together, they all moved as one. In a fraction of a second, all converged to a single point right where Kurama was floating, resulting in an explosion of radiant light.
As she continued to float there waiting, Rarity finally took note of herself. Though it was a dream, she found herself panting heavily. It was strange. She had dreams before but none of them had left her feeling this worn out.
Is it… because of him? She recalled the story Fluttershy’s other side told her. Kurama’s presence in another dream seemed to have some adverse effects on his targets. Was it possible that ever though it wasn’t her physical body, she was still capable of exhausting herself?
“Seems you’re running out of steam…” Rarity gave a fearful pause as she looked up at the clearing light. At the center of it all, Kurama still stood tall, his body enclosed in what looked like a force field, “I’ll give you credit. You managed to entertain me greatly this day. But I believe it’s time we put this to rest.”
In a flash, Kurama flew towards Rarity. She only had seconds to prepare this time. Concentrating as hard as she could, Rarity formed a sapphire around her as a shield with only moments to spare. One of Kurama’s tails struck it with great force, enough to send her flying back down. Though she’d managed to block the attack, Rarity still felt the ripple from the impact. And she found herself incapable of stopping her fall. All she could do was brace herself for when she finally hit the ground. The rubble shot up high into the sky, causing a sizable dust cloud. Under it all was Rarity, the sapphire that had protected her having cracked beyond belief, the mare gasping in paint from the hard impact. The construct faded away as Rarity laid there. It was hard to explain. Her body wouldn’t respond. Her mind spun endlessly.
Am… am I feeling pain… in a dream?
She didn’t have time to contemplate this, because as she looked up she saw that Kurama wasn’t finished with her yet. Mustering as much willpower as she could, Rarity managed to fly out of the ground and away from Kurama’s path just as he struck the spot she was at. She managed to get back to her feet and extend her hands to prepare yet another construct. The moment she did, though, she found that Kurama was already a step ahead of her. Two of his tails shot out towards her and wrapped themselves around her wrists. She tried to use her bracelets’ powers, but nothing seemed to happen. She tried to pull herself free, but her strength had suddenly left her.
“It’s over,” the tails holding Rarity began o glow, and in an instant she heard a loud crunch; her bracelets had been destroyed. She let out a sharp grunt of pain, her outfit regressing back to what she had been wearing before. With that, the last of her strength left her, and she dropped to her knees. All she could do was watch weakly as Kurama slowly stepped towards her, his hand held out. She knew what was going to happen, and knew that there was no stopping this. Yet still, somehow, she managed a smile.
“Do you find comfort in your demise?” Kurama asked.
“No, nothing of the sort,” she said, “I just feel at ease… thinking of what’ll await you when he finds out what you did.”
What happened next, Rarity would count as a small victory. For a brief moment, Kurama came to a full halt.
“You may know how to use ponies’ fears against them, but I think I know who you’re afraid of.”
Kurama stayed frozen for several more seconds before he finally grabbed hold of Rarity’s head. Without hesitating, his hand began to glow with his dark magic and Rarity felt herself being pulled in.
“We’ll see…”
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Most of the battleground had been leveled, the ground filled with craters from constant impacts. The surrounding rocks had been smashed to pebbles, and the sky was filled with heavy rain. In the center of it all was the creature, or at least, what was left of it. It lay on the ground, motionless, its tail severed, and a broken off piece of its blade drove deep into its body. A black ooze and a purple haze came out of the wound. Floating several feet above it was the dragon who had done this to it.
John stared down at the creature for over a minute now, wondering if this time it’d finally stay down. After a while longer, something did start to happen, and he prepared himself to continue, but there was no need. The monster’s form began to shift as more haze came out, its body shrinking in size by the second. Its body started to disintegrate, bits and pieces evaporating right off it. It wasn’t long before the rest of it couldn’t hold its form, and the monster exploded into ashes.
He may have taken a few more seconds to wait, but when nothing more happened, John managed a sigh of relief. It was over. It may have taken more than he thought it would, but he had finished it.
No time! Gotta get back there…! John’s eyes glowed again as he landed and began opening a return portal. The fact it could still open was a good sign to him, but as soon as he started moving towards it, he noticed it was starting to change.
“What?” The portal began to change to a sickly purple, and he started to feel that chill coming out of it. The portal grew unstable until it couldn’t hold its form any longer. It shattered like a pane of glass, and as soon as it did, John felt a stab of realization cut deep into his soul.
Rarity… There was no point trying to go back now. He knew he couldn’t. His eyes glowed again, and this time, his body faded from the dream.
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John knew exactly what was awaiting him in the waking world, but he still couldn’t prepare himself for it. His body returned to the real world, and his eyes began to lose their glow; his ears began to return to their hearing. The screams of terror, of anguish, and he knew exactly who they were coming from.
“No, no, not you too!?”
John could see Twilight and the others trying to wake her, though they all knew it wasn’t going to work. With all their attention towards her, they had yet to notice John was back. For a while, John said nothing, unable to look away from Rarity as she screamed, flailing on the floor.
This time, it wasn’t like with Corey, where he was just too late to stop it. This time, he’d brought someone with him into the danger, and could have prevented it. He was given a choice, and didn’t know he’d made the wrong one until it was too late. And it wasn’t him that had to suffer the consequences, but Rarity.
And it’s all my fault…