//------------------------------// // Alone, Am I? // Story: Rarity, POW // by Amethyst_Dawn //------------------------------// The Iron door flew open with a loud clang as it collided with the stone wall. The battered shape of a ivory Unicorn being thrown in forcefully could be vaguely seen in the dim torchlight. She tried to stand onto her hooves, but only succeeded in lifting her forward half as she looked out to the door: "Please! I beg you to release me!" She sobbed, "You've got the wrong pony!" They didn't, and she knew it, but at least she could try to escape this... this hellhole. She looked up at the guard, who looked back down at her with a wicked smile. "Don't worry too much, Earth Lover." He sneered. "That feeling you think is pain will be replaced soon enough..." He slammed the door with a deranged laugh, and she heard his hoofsteps fade into the distance. 'Jack Lover...' 'Mudkeeper...' 'Earth kisser...' She had been called all these and more as the clubs struck her ribs, and the whips lashed against her back. 'Why did I ever choose this era to go on a vacation in Marelin...?' -=-=-=-=-=-=- Rarity, famous gown designer and seamstress, sat alone at a table on the veranda: overlooking the scene below. Several Pegasi and Unicorns had gathered below, and were waiting for somepony in front of a large podium. "Can you see well, my dear?" A firm voice asked from behind. Rarity nearly choked on her tea, and lifted her head to see a pale brown Unicorn stallion with a slickly combed, dark brown mane. A small, rectangular mustache rested beneath his nostrils, and fierce blue eyes shone from under his brow. He wore the suit she had made for him on request: a whit button-up shirt with a black tie, covered by tan trench coat. The trench coat bore a red band on the elbow, and the band bore the symbol of a curvy, white 'X' inside of a black circle. His black pants added a slight air of authority, and his left breast pocket bore a medallion similar to the emblem on his forearm. "M-M-Mister Hitter!" She stammered, setting down her drink. "Aren't you supposed to be speaking in three minutes? You should be down there, not bothering with silly me!" Hitter raised a hoof for silence, and lowered it once she was quiet. "My friends call me Golf, Madame Belle, as I hope you would too." He stated, causing her cheek to turn a bright shade of pink. "I just wanted to thank you again for making me this lovely suit: you cannot imagine how much easier it will make the spreading of my cause..." Rarity nodded bashfully: "I-it was no trouble at all, G-Golf." She swallowed. "But what is your cause? You've talked about precious little else, but I somehow missed what it is." She ventured. Golf's expression darkened. "I'm here to rid the world of a useless vermin, Madame Rarity," he said, voice oozing with hostility: "I hold no doubt you will see my point, in time. My strength lies in the East, after all." "Hitter werden gesprochen in einem Augenblick, bitte nehmen Sie Ihre Plätze. Hitter werden gesprochen in einem Augenblick, bitte nehmen Sie Ihre Plätze." The announcer called out, stepping off the stage. "Looks like it is time for me to go, Madame." He sighed, lighting his horn. "I hope my speech will not disappoint you," "I doubt it could, Golf." She sighed, watching as he teleported just offstage. She observed as he took his place at the podium, raised a hoof ceremoniously before him, and lowered it in time to start his speech: "My Fellow Unicorns, my dear Pegasi," he began in a soft tone, before leaning both hooves on the podium and leering out to the crowd: "the time has come to address the Oliphant in the room. A plague had drifted across our fair lands for too long, a plague that takes up valuable flesh, and takes the jobs that could easily belong to us! These lesser beings have been gaining our sympathy be playing the 'Hard Work' card when we could easily take their place at a fraction of the effort! "You may be wondering, 'What is this plague? Who are these horrors that have befriended us, and blinded us to their uselessness?'. I'll tell you the names granted to this terrible plague: Donkeys, Mules, Earth Ponies..." He let that sink in as the crowd murmured amongst themselves, smiling as he had caught there attention. Rarity quirked an eyebrow as her pupils shrank, and shakily lifted her tea to her mouth. 'He can't really be saying...' "But!" Hitter barked, eying the crowd: "You may be wondering, thinking 'They aren't that Bad'! I tell you that these vermin are a waste of flesh: they take jobs our kind could use to reduce the unemployed, they dare to think only they can farm like experts, they dare say we higher tribes depend on them! "I ask you, what are these wastes of flesh good for? These arrogant bastards who think the weight of the world rests on their shoulders? Have they forgotten that the Pegasi control the weather, and the Unicorns provide them with protection? I'll tell you what they're good for: eating food that could be served to the weak and homeless Pegasus! Doing the work of an unemployed Unicorn, and taking money from those who would need it! "You might say, 'But there are homeless Earth Ponies, and Donkeys, too!" To which I'd reply: yes, because those creatures were thrown out of businesses that realized the might of the Unicorn, and the speed and endurance of the Pegasus! I say it's time to let Evolution take it's course: give Mother Nature a push in the right direction!" Rarity watched in mixed awe and horror as the crowd murmured angrily amongst themselves, and she almost found herself believing the words coming from his mouth. She didn't see some smaller figures shrink hastily from the crowd. Hitter smiled Darkly. "I'll tell you what they're good for: they're meat for our dogs!" Everypony in the crowd roared in approval, including the mares and foals. Rarity's pupils shrank at the heated spectacle. "They're fertilizer for our plants!" The ground began to tremble as the thunderous din of pounding hooves echoed through the streets, and Rarity's tea and saucer fell to the floor with an unheard crash. "They're fuel for our fires!" Rarity shrank into her seat as the ruckus turned to a steady thrumming of pure hatred. "Let their skin be used as our cloth! Let their bones decorate our walls! Let us rid ourselves of these blemishes to Ponykind! these Dots on the skin of perfection!" Rarity's eyes rolled back into her head, and she fell, knowing no more. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- She had expected great things to come from that speech, great truths to fly forth from the mouth that she knew could sway a country. What she saw instead was horror. What she heard was blasphemy. What she knew was War. She pawed at the floor with a hoof, remembering how hurt Hitter looked when she called him out on his mindless persecution. 'No,' she thought, standing herself firm as she shook her head, 'It's worse than mindless persecution: it's persecution of living souls without a second thought. He wants to kill off entire races merely because he deems them to be useless. He has merely forgotten their uses, and therefore forgotten that they are as alive as he and I...' "Oh, Hitter," she sighed, "how you have betrayed yourself... and to turn around and put others like me through this..." "At least... you're... cough... a Unicorn." A weak voice moaned from behind her, causing her to jump. She wheeled around, and looked into the infernal blackness that was her cell. Sadly, she couldn't see far past her own nose. "Who's there?" She asked in a panic, slowly stepping backwards towards the door. "Oh... that's right, you're new." The voice whispered, as if it had not the strength to speak any louder. "You're eyes can't really adjust yet. "Well, I was unfortunate enough to be playing at a concert in Marelin when Hitter first started spreading his filth across the city. And once they saw my tribe, Rarity, well... let's just say with all you've been through, you've gone about halfway through what they've done to me..." Rarity tried to light her horn to see better, but she found herself with another screaming headache as the disabling spell held her magic at bay. Whoever this pony was, they knew Rarity's name, and she was still deciding if that was a good thing, or a danger to her. She heard a scraping sound, like a body being dragged across gravel, and soon a shape began to take form in the shadows. The poor pony seemed to move an inch with each step, and once they came closer, Rarity saw that they walked with an intense limp in their left hind leg. Rarity gasped when she recognized the dark grey coat, now matted with mud, and the once pristine, slick black mane now tattered and worn. She also recognized the unmistakable treble clef cutie mark, now with a deep scar across the left sign. "O-O-Octavia?" Rarity choked at seeing her friend's current condition. She ran forward to embrace the wounded pony in a comforting hug, but stopped when she saw a freshly-healed gash all the way down her limping leg. "Wh- what have they done to you?" "I'd rather not go into detail, I don't want to upset you too much." Octavia mumbled, stretching her jaw with a sickening crack. "Suffice it to say that they only throw scraps down here every other day. But, now that you're here..." she eyed Rarity with a reddened eye, "... that might just change." "How do you mean, Octavia?" Rarity inquired, curious as to what the maltreated mare might be insinuating. Octavia smiled, possibly her first since she was sent here, and spoke. "I've only been in this dungeon for around a month, yet even I've heard of the infamous Lilac Duchess, and why she was so hard to find." Rarity returned the smile, and raised her head slightly. "I see that my reputation precedes me..."