Chapter Ninety Eight
Chapter Ninety Eight
"Er, just- before we actually begin, please?" Rarity paused with a raised hoof, all of her previous bravado suddenly being replaced with nervousness. Quickly, she turned back around to address the others. "Twilight? You and the others may wish to step back a bit. That, or summon yourselves plenty of umbrellas and ponchos. Because as things currently stand, you're all unfortunately right in the splash zone..."
Nightmare Moon found herself tilting her head to the side in confusion as she heard Rarity's statement to her friends. Was that supposed to be a veiled threat against her? Some secret code perhaps, to indicate she had some sort of plan in mind?
Whatever the meaning behind the phrase was, it ultimately wasn't important. This mare couldn't pose a challenge to her; certainly not compared to the like of her boisterous friends. This little exchange would be quite easy.
"How kind of you," she purred, "letting your little friends know your death is going to be quite messy."
"Hm?" Rarity asked as she turned back around to regard Nightmare Moon. "Oh, no-no, dear, I'm afraid you have it all wrong," she said as she shook her head, "I am going to to be the one ripping and tearing you completely asunder. I'm going to rend you like cheap, puce, polyester. And I dare say that you won't be shaking this one off as easily as you have everything else."
Under different circumstances, Nightmare Moon would've been laughing over such a ridiculous claim being leveled at her. But as she'd learned over the course of the evening, that wasn't a wise course of action for her to undertake. Underestimating these ponies was getting her killed far too many times for her own liking, and she'd much rather not suffer anymore deaths tonight if it could be avoided.
"Arrogant words from an arrogant little tailor. Your friends are all much stronger than you, and they've all failed. Repeatedly! And you think that a weak little pony such as yourself, can actually do better than them?" she asked.
"Quite so," Rarity replied calmly and evenly with a subtle nod of the head. "Honestly, dear, the very fact you even have to ask such a question just shows how limited your understanding of the matter really is. Perhaps I might not possess the overwhelming magical strength that Twilight may have at her disposal, or the physical prowess of Applejack. But what I do possess is an immeasurable degree of skill. What I may lack in overall strength, I make up for in finesse," she continued.
Nightmare Moon snorted dismissively in response, unimpressed by the answer.
"As much as I may love my friends, I'm afraid they're all rather limited in their thought processes when it comes to approaching matters like this," Rarity continued as her horn began to glow. "They don't really understand the proper approach and application of tact and the like. That's what separates myself from them, and it's that difference which will allow me to succeed where they've failed in putting an end to you."
"Little pony, your mouth is writing a check that your body simply can't cover. There's no way you can live up to the hype you're creating about yourself," Nightmare Moon pointed stated dismissively.
"That remains to be seen," Rarity replied with equal dismissiveness, before rearing up on her hind legs, holding her forelegs out fully extended to her sides, and closed her eyes. "Worry more about yourself."
The glow of her horn grew brighter, and then a sudden flash enveloped the entire area around her. A flash that faded to reveal many hundreds -if not potentially thousands- of gems now hovering about her. Diamonds, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and countless other rare stones of all various shapes, sizes and colors, hung thick in the air much like a cloud as they hovered about.
"These are the tools of my trade. And these are the tools with which I'll be picking you apart piece by piece," she explained as she touched back down on all four hooves once again.
"So... your master plan is to basically stone me to death?" Nightmare Moon asked skeptically. Surely this had to be a joke.
"... Yes."
The cloud of gems hovering in the area quickly morphed into an all-out maelstrom of rare and precious stones exploding outward and enveloping the entire area as they whirled about in a mad, chaotic fashion as if they were being blown about by phantom winds, in a manner similar to the inside of a snow globe that'd been subject to a vigorous shaking.
If not for Nightmare Moon's shield, she might've been in trouble. But such wasn't the case, as she'd seen what was coming and reacted in a timely manner. She was safe behind the magical barrier, and free to watch as Rarity's salvo failed to pose a risk to her. She could even, almost, see said unicorn's face as shock washed over her features, at the realization of her hype failing to meet her own expectation. All of that confidence washed away by the cold, hard reality of the matter, as her numerous stones harmlessly bounced right off the shield. It was enough to make her grin/sneer in response.
Unfortunately it didn't seem that Rarity was actually getting the message. She wasn't accepting the fact that her efforts were in vain, or submitting to the reality of the situation, but was instead pressing forward in a blatantly desperate manner; as if simply continuing the assault would yield different results. She was succumbing to blind panic in her denial of the reality that stood before her, proving herself incapable of responding to this unforeseen development actually developing and derailing her entire plan.
Oh well. If breaking the speedster's spirits wasn't a possibility, she'd simply have to settle for the seamstress instead. Despair and defeat were the same regardless of which one it overtook. She'd simply let her have her little dun, engage in her little display of impotent pride, let her exhaust herself, and then step in to deliver the final blow, before moving onto her friends; and all while they watched on helplessly.
Maybe this could be fun for her after all.
The very idea of Rarity attempting to face down Nightmare Moon all on her own had been utterly ludicrous to even consider.
But that had been before the gems had come out into view. And once those gems had been set into motion, expanding outward to encompass and engulf everything in the immediate area, Rarity's "splash zone" comment made a great deal of sense!
A safe distance away, and behind the additional security of Twilight's own shield, the others in the group watched as Rarity went about... well, doing whatever it was that she was doing currently.
"There's something... oddly familiar about this," Twilight commented, although she couldn't immediately place just what it was.
"Funny, I've got that same feeling right now," Pinkie commented. "Which is really odd for me, because I usually know what's behind that feeling of déjà vu, but this time around I'm coming up blank."
"Yeah, well, the whole déjà voodoo thing aside, what in tarnation is Rarity doin' anyway? She's not gettin' through Nightmare Moon's shield, so why's she still even tryin'?" Applejack asked.
All eyes forward once again, the others could see that Applejack's assessment of the situation was correct. For all the dizzying speeds and dazzling visuals to be had, Rarity's efforts weren't really yielding any significant results. Despite the speed at which the gems were traveling -and the force they carried behind them- none of them were actually getting through Nightmare Moon's defenses.
But despite that fact, despite how the gems were simply bouncing and ricocheting off of the shield's surface, despite how some gems were literally shattering against it, Rarity was simply refusing to recognize the situation for what it was for her; hopeless. She was out of her element, outclassed, and her bluff had just been called. And yet she was pressing on regardless, as if she believed there was some small sliver of hope if she held on long enough.
"She's stalling!" Rainbow Dash blurted out.
Hearing this, Spike looked at her for clarification. "How do you know that?"
"Because she did the same thing to me that night you found us out here. I mean, not the whole diamond storm thing, but the stalling thing. She knew she couldn't take me on her own, so she stalled me out until she could actually get control of the situation," Rainbow Dash explained.
"A'right, but how do ya figure Rarity's stallin' 'er?" Applejack asked.
"Because a pony can't utilize a force field and offensive magic simultaneously," Twilight stated in realization before Rainbow Dash could speak up. She could practically feel the revelation presenting itself to her now, and she felt like an idiot for not realizing it sooner. "Rarity's assault can't breach Nightmare Moon's defenses. But at the same time Nightmare Moon can't drop her defenses to counter without actually leaving herself vulnerable to said assault in the process. And while the individual stones themselves might not seem to pose much of a threat on their own, the math of weight multiplied by velocity dictates otherwise, as even a half of an ounce traveling at these speeds could break bones."
"So it'd be like gettin' caught right in the middle of a ragin' hail storm since there's hundreds o' gems ta deal with all at once," Applejack surmised.
"Right!" Twilight readily agreed, grateful that she was being understood. "She might not be able to beat Nightmare Moon in open combat, but she's not really trying to either. She's just keeping Nightmare Moon distracted until Ulquiorra returns," she stated, before turning back to face Luna. "Ulquiorra is coming back, isn't he?"
Luna nodded. "That was the plan. He is under orders to return, once Celestia is safely back in Canterlot, and he has had the chance to revitalize himself. We need simply bide our time until then."
Twilight nodded in turn. Every minute Nightmare Moon had to maintain a defensive position was another minute she couldn't hurt anypony, and another minute for Ulquiorra to get back to them and take care of business. So long as Rarity could maintain her offensive, they should be alright. Or at least she hoped that was the case. In combat even a minute could seem like an eternity, and if one didn't know to pace themselves, it could end poorly.
All they could do right now was hope that Rarity knew to pace herself in this.
The amount of tenacity Rarity had to her was certainly respectful as far as Nightmare Moon was concerned. Despite the futility, the seamstress simply refused to admit defeat, opting instead to stubbornly maintain her efforts regardless of how hopeless it was.
Despite that hopelessness, she was certainly giving it her all; stones such as emeralds and the like simply didn't shatter quite that easily upon impact with a hard surface. But even if she could manage to throw an entire mountain at her, it still wouldn't do any good against her shield.
The pattering of projectiles against her shield came to a halt, but she knew better than to drop her guard just yet as she watched to see what was going to happen next; anypony who kept up a pointless barrage this long wasn't about to stop of their own volition just because of a lack of results.
Sure enough, the flurry might've been stopping, but not the assault. Without so many impact ripples to obscure her sight, she could see Rarity was up to something new, with her entire assortment of gems coalescing into a large, concentrated cluster high above them. Was she actually going to...
Yes. Yes she was. Instead of a flurry, Rarity was attempting a deluge attack against her by bringing all of her gems down on her at once.
Creative. Not very effective, but certainly creative. All she had to show for her futile efforts was a wide swath of forest floor pockmarked by all the stones that'd failed to do anything to their intended target, with a nice large circle in the center that was untouched.
Finally, it looked like her opponent had run out of steam. She swayed as she tried to stand up, before simply collapsing on top of the pockmarked ground, far too weak to even stand under her own power. It would be pathetic if it weren't so amusing.
A slow descent would do far more to illustrate the hopelessness of the situation. But in this particular case a quick teleport to ground level was far more warranted. Too much delay would simply welcome the others trying to intervene on their friend's behalf, and she didn't need that right now. If they did try to intervene and launch a rescue effort, then they'd quickly find themselves with a hostage situation on their hooves, and at her mercy one again.
Not that she'd actually show them any mercy...
Touching down just a few brief steps away, Rarity was an even more disheveled mess up close than she would've thought. Covered in dirt and dried blood as she laid on the ground, her mane tangled and haphazard, her entire body quaking as she tried to gasp for air, with the glow of her horn flickering in and out of existence in an anemic fashion like a sick lightning bug.
"A valiant effort, seamstress," she admitted, before reaching out with her magic and plucking Rarity off the ground by her neck. "But sadly not enough of one to save your princess, or your friends..."
Sharp, white-hot, blinding pain erupted in her gut without warning and quickly radiated outward, resonating all the way through to her back. She screamed in a mix of agony and surprise, everything else seeming to cease to exist as she found herself collapsing on the ground and trying to cradle her abdomen with her forelegs.
Doing such made her vaguely aware of something warm and wet spreading across her midsection and forelegs. Something that, as it turned out, was her own blood.
"Oh dear. It would appear that perforated your small intestine. That could prove to be fatal."
Hearing the voice before her, Nightmare Moon looked up to see Rarity standing back up, returning her mane -mostly- to its well maintained state with a simple shake of the head, and wearing a look that was usually reserved for one who was in full control of their surroundings.
"I wasn't trying to breach your defenses, as I knew that wouldn't be possible. So instead I worked on laying a trap for you. And what better bait to use in such a trap than myself?"
Nightmare Moon was in absolutely no mood for witty banter; not in her present state at least. She had no care for whatever self-congratulatory boasting the seamstress had to engage in regarding her own perceived brilliance. It was all just background noise and static to her at this point anyway.
Disengaging from the current skirmish, she allowed her physical form to decorporealize in order to retreat, repair, and regroup. She wouldn't be able to counterattack while incorporeal, but at least she couldn't be attacked in turn while she contemplated this turn of events.
She could surmise what'd happened down below. The seamstress had made herself into the equivalent of a poison pawn, and she'd taken the bait without even realizing it.
In hindsight, she really should've realized those gems hadn't been rendered inaccessible simply because they were buried in the ground, rather than touching down on the pockmarked ground without even thinking twice about it.
She was getting sloppy. That's all there was to it. For so long she'd been so careful in how she went about doing business. Now that she had a touch of power back, she was letting it go to her head. She couldn't afford to keep making mistakes like that, or it would cost her dearly.
The smart thing to do right now would be retreat from the conflict entirely. Find somewhere to hide, lay low, recuperate properly, and plan another counterattack for sometime in the future. But she couldn't afford to do that right now. Celestia was weak. Luna was weak. The Espada was gone. And those blasted Elements of Harmony were currently where they didn't pose any risk to her. If she left now, she risked throwing that all away, and there was no guarantee she could get things back in her favor a second time around; disabling the Elements of Harmony had been more a matter of sheer luck than skill on her part.
Like it or not, she'd have to stay and see things out to their conclusion. She'd have to stay, and be smarter from here on out. These ponies just weren't breaking like they should be under present circumstances. Killing them served little beneficial purpose, as she needed them alive to help extend the reach of her rule over Equestria. So long as they were still alive, the Elements of Harmony weren't going anywhere.
All that said, however, it was proving harder and harder to not resort to the scorched earth doctrine, and completely wipe the lot of them out in a fit of frustration! Really, there was only one or two in this world she might have actual trouble dealing with later on down the line. But those two were really big ones, and they'd be much easier to deal with if the Elements of Harmony were on her side...
She'd simply have to focus, tone down her inner-psychopath, and get back to work. It was time to reengage, and do what she did best.
No sooner had the recorporealized herself, she caught sight of an incoming swarm of gems hurtling at her at incredible speed, leaving her unable to respond, only to react. She immediately stopped flapping in order to drop below the path of the incoming assault, just barely managing to clear it in time as it traveled past her.
An offensive move against her was to be expected, just not quite so suddenly, as if her location had been known the moment she'd chosen it.
Unfortunately she didn't have time to think on the matter, as the swarm was making a U-turn and arcing back around towards her!
Rainbow Dash genuinely wanted to help Rarity in her plight. Honestly, all of them felt the same way right now. But the simple matter was that none of them were entirely certain just how to go about actually helping. Going by what they were currently seeing, Rarity seemed to be taking care of herself just fine all on her own.
She really didn't have a clue what Rarity was doing at the moment, only that she seemed highly competent as she stood on her hind legs while using her forelegs for the purpose of guiding and directing the flow of her gems. Whatever she was doing, be it conducting or orchestrating or whatever the proper term was, she was keeping Nightmare Moon on her toes and in a constant state of alert and motion as she tried to avoid getting pummeled.
All in all, Rarity was possibly the most competent one of them present at the moment. She had far more up her sleeves than they'd first assumed. The moment Nightmare Moon had decorporealized herself for whatever reason, Rarity wasted no time in extracting the rest of her gems from where they rested in the ground, and making ready to reengage at a moment's notice. She was going about all of this in a pure business, no-nonsense manner that seemed devoid of her usual flare for conducting herself.
But despite all of that, despite however much fury she must have to her, never once could she see Rarity surrendering her grace and poise for the sake of an attack. Her movements were fluid and smooth as she used her body as a physical conduit for directing the ebb and flow of her gems, carrying herself like she was giving a solo at a ballet recital. Even the huge swarm of gems seemed to be carried by that same grace that flowed through Rarity. There were no sharp jerks as they were directed, just a smooth and circular flow as they were traveled about in an effort to strike Nightmare Moon down with enough force to physically cripple her.
Honestly, she was kinda turned on by it all at the moment.
Loathe as she was to acknowledge it, Nightmare Moon was having a difficult time in her conflict with Rarity. If for no other reason, the simple fact that she wasn't being allowed to stop moving long enough to collect her thoughts and think coherently for even a moment. She was forced to duck, dodge, weave, occasionally barrel roll, and just generally evade as she was swarmed from all directions by very sharp, very fast-moving stones being trained on her position. She needed to regroup behind her shield, but in order to do that she first needed to be able to focus enough to actually deploy it! Therein laid the rub in all of this.
Something just happened. She didn't know what it was, nor had she felt anything, but she suddenly found herself plummeting to the forest floor.
Her shield hadn't been a viable option in all this commotion, but levitation was another story, and she thankfully managed to catch herself before slamming into the ground with enough force to break something.
The sheer weight of the gems hammering down on top of her, however, managed to close that remaining distance before she could stop herself from getting a face full of dirt.
There were no two ways about it. She needed a moment to rest, and regather her thoughts.
"Well now, that's a sufficient warmup. Let's get to business, shall we?"
Nightmare Moon needed a moment to rest, and regather her thoughts. But first she needed to silence the mocker.
"Come now, you've recovered from far worse than that. Have you really burnt through so much of your magical reserves, that you can't even regenerate your missing feathers at this point?"
Slowly, Nightmare Moon raised her head to regard the yappy little seamstress. She then did the same to inspect her wings, and found the primaries had been sheered right off, just above the skin line, as if they'd been cut right through. She'd never even felt it happening, although that explained at least one mystery.
Looking back at the tailor, she could see she wasn't even trying to hide the fact that two pairs of scissors were held aloft in her magic along with the countless number of gems orbiting her. Obviously she must've brought them into the fray with the gems, and snipped her feathers right off while she was distracted. Or maybe not obviously, but it sounded like a really good theory right now.
"Well now, tailor, you've certainly creative," she begrudgingly admitted, before grunting as she climbed back to her hooves again. "So you managed to cripple my flight for the time being. But to what end? What did it get you?"
"You," Rarity stated simply, before the two pairs of scissors flashed out of view. "What it got me, my dear, is you. You're down here where I can actually reach you now... "
Once again a large portion of the gems surrounding Rarity started to move about, but not in the same manner that'd been witnessed previously. Instead of launching outward, they were coalescing inward above her, before descending onto her back and clinging to her sides along her ribs.
"And I dare say you won't be escaping so easily this time around..." she concluded as the mound of gems split apart and unraveled into four, large, tentacle-shaped limbs tapering down into points, with each one of them significantly longer from tip to base than she herself was from nose to tail.
Nightmare Moon felt something stir deep within her in response, but she couldn't identify what it was. Anger? Fear? Disbelief? Incredulity? Amusement? Excitement? Anxiousness? Uncertainty? Hunger? Gas? Whatever it was she was experiencing at the moment, she simply didn't know. All she knew was that she didn't really like where this was going. This could present its own unique complications to the battle.
"Well now," she replied slowly as she popped her neck, stood up straighter, and allowed herself to smirk. "It looks-"
An opal smacked her in the face, right in the forehead just above the eyes as the left front tentacle pulled back and swung forward, much like a whip being cracked. Immediately her statement was cut off as she screamed in surprise, clenching her watering eyes shut tightly from the sharp pain radiating outward.
Perhaps now wasn't the appropriate time for witty banter and the like. This mare was proving to be something else. Perhaps she had been right in how she differed from the others, as she was proving to be just so unlike the others.
Now she was angry, and the tailor was going to pay for that sneak attack. First her, and then her friends! She opened her eyes to issue a death glare, only to find that her quarry had closed the gap between them during the brief moment her eyes had been shut. Not only had she closed the gap, but she was swinging the right tentacle around just as she'd been opening her eyes, and catching her right across the face with all the weight and force of a cinder block being thrown.
The left tentacle wasn't far behind, slapping her from the other side with enough force to move her head against her will and subsequently stagger her.
There were few words in the equestrian language to explain what the others felt as they watched Rarity's efforts against Nightmare Moon unfold. Shock, bewilderment, and disbelief were a few of them, but not even those could truly do justice to convey just what was coursing through each of them at the moment.
Out of all the words available for trying to describe the matter, "terrified" was perhaps the one that best fit what they were experiencing.
Each of them knew that Rarity was quite capable in her own right, as she had demonstrated that fact numerous times. Whether it was engaging in a bare-hoofed beat down with numerous changelings, or demonstrating manipulation and trickery with the diamond dogs, she was hardly a slouch when it came to matters of conflict.
But this wasn't that. This was Rarity assaulting Nightmare Moon with tactics and an approach none of them had ever seen of her before, nor had even suspected her being capable of. She was effortlessly slapping Nightmare Moon both senseless and shitless with her newfound appendages in a demonstration of ever-increasing savagery and brutality that simply showed no signs of stopping anytime soon. To the contrary, it looked like Rarity was actually getting into the groove of things with great ease.
Twilight flinched/cringed as one of the tentacles shattered into its respective gem bits against the side of Nightmare Moon's head, trying her best to not try and calculate how much force must've been delivered by that particular blow for that to happen, as she truly didn't want to know the answer to that particular question.
Rarity never even missed a step at this sudden development, as one of the remaining tentacles simply took over in administering the beating, while the shattered limb reformed itself like it was nothing.
"Fluttershy," Twilight managed to squeak out, finally finding her voice again, "you know Rarity as well as any of us. Have you ever seen anything that would suggest she was capable of... of this?"
Fluttershy shook her head weakly in response, despite the fact Twilight wasn't facing her to see the gesture at the time. "Never. Something like this is entirely unprecedented."
Twilight's brow furrowed in response as she chewed at her bottom lip, wanting to look away, yet unable to bring herself to actually do so. There was something almost hypnotic about it all, how Rarity seemed to have everything under control as she carried on. If she listened close enough, she could almost pick out a pattern to the blows being landed and mixed with Nightmare Moon's own screams of pain.
Nightmare Moon was trying to escape, trying to flee, but she wasn't getting anywhere fast in her efforts. Rarity simply responded by using one of the tentacles to ensnare her right foreleg, a second to anchor the two of them to the ground, and then switched up her approach. The two remaining tentacles reshaped, the tips turning blunt and about the same size as a grown pony's hoof, as she stopped with the slapping and went with something more akin to rapidly punching Nightmare Moon's face, head, neck, and anything else within her reach.
How Nightmare Moon was still standing, to say nothing of still even being alive, she didn't have a clue. The sheer amount of physical abuse she was weathering was presently incalculable.
"I got off lucky..."
The statement had barely been a mumble, but it'd been enough to tear Pinkie's attention away from the brutality as it refocused on Rainbow Dash. As she did, she saw her friend trembling where she stood, her armor nearly giving off an audible rattle. It was enough to cause her question to pause on her lips, but she managed to push on regardless.
"What do you mean, Dashie?"
"That night I came back to Ponyville to kill Rarity. I thought I had her for sure, but she had me on my back and pinned to the ground in nothing flat. But seeing this, she could've killed me for sure if she wanted to," Rainbow Dash stated uncomfortably, outright shivering at the thought.
A sense of dread and a clenching of the gut settled in over her at this revelation, as she realized just how wrong she'd really been. All that grace, all that sophistication that Rarity had about her, all this time it'd been disguising something far more ferocious than she ever could've thought of becoming herself. Rarity was some sort of refined monster, and the only reason she was still alive to be realizing such was because Rarity hadn't seen fit to rip her to literal pieces on that night.
Applejack shook her head dismissively in response. "Sugarcube, Rarity wouldn' do somethin' like that to ya. She's jus' not that kind o' pony," she insisted in an effort to ease her friend's worry.
"Yeah? Well I never thought she'd turn Nightmare Moon into her own personal punching bag either, but she did," Rainbow Dash shot back and gestured forward. "When she volunteered to fight, I was sure we'd have to swoop in and save her in short order, but that didn't happen. She's doing better than I did, than Twilight did- shoot, I think she's doing even better than Luna did against her!"
"Perhaps so," Luna replied and shrugged her withers. She wouldn't deny that she was impressed by the amount of fight that Rarity had to her, or with her tactics to compensate for her own physical shortcomings.
With the apparent flexibility of her skills with precious stones, there was truly no telling just what she could do if she were to put her mind to it.
She would have to inform Ulquiorra that he needed to update his individual assessments of Twilight and her friends in light of this new information.
She also knew that she should be focusing on trying to recoup her strength. But at the moment she was all too fascinated to actually do such.
Rarity's assault on Nightmare Moon was showing no visible signs of suffering from fatigue anytime soon. The screams coming from Nightmare Moon couldn't even be heard, as they were being drowned out by the near-continuous commotion that was coming from the blows that were being landed. Even if she could scream loud enough to eclipse the sound of her own skull being pounded, it would be doubtful if Rarity would even care to acknowledge their existence, as she had far more important matters to focus on.
It would be so very easy to kill Nightmare Moon right here and now, and she knew it. Just drive a diamond shard into her barrel, or right through her carotid artery, and it would be all over.
But her intent wasn't to kill Nightmare Moon. No. Killing her wouldn't take, and it would ultimately just give her a way of escape, and then she'd have to go and catch her all over again. It was much better to focus on the larger picture, the more important picture. So long as she kept Nightmare Moon here with her, bound, and subject to a continuous beating, none of the others would be put at risk. So long as she kept up her efforts, they would be safe as the matter was controlled. Every blow she landed, every second she managed to drag this out further, that would be one more second the others would be protected.
The simple fact that Nightmare Moon would be in excruciating pain throughout it all was merely a delightful bonus; much like the metaphorical cherry on top of a delicious -if fattening- ice cream sundae.
Her stones ground to a halt, but neither of their own volition, nor of her own. She hadn't commanded them to pause, and yet they had done so regardless, refusing to budge or heed her commands. What had gone wrong here?
She realized immediately what had gone wrong, was Nightmare Moon herself. Looking forward she saw her quarry glaring at her, horn alight with her magical aura wrapped around the stone tentacles to hold them firmly in place. And unfortunately she didn't look all that worse for wear besides a number of cuts to her face.
"You're certainly a tenacious one, tailor," Nightmare Moon commented, "you actually had me worried. Before I found out just how weak your blows were, that is."
Rarity's primary response was a polite smirk, and a dismissive shrug of the withers.
"If we're being honest, you had me worried as well. I was afraid you were going to sleep through all the excitement. But then you decided to take me seriously. I can't even begin to describe how good that feels, knowing you actually regard me as one who can compete with you."
Nightmare Moon quirked an eyebrow at hearing this. "Little tailor, exactly what're you babbling on about?"
"I'm a socialite, dear, being able to accurately read ponies is part and parcel with my trade. And you are but an open book to me; specifically a comic book."
Nightmare Moon cackled in response. It was an amused cackle, but that was fine. Honestly she didn't mind, as she would have the last laugh in the end. It was a point emphasized as she jerked her head back, tugging on the tentacles in the process to try and break them loose, but Nightmare Moon held strong and refused to yield.
Had she known the truth of the matter, she would've realized the effort was nothing more than a feint.
But she hadn't known such. Leaving her vulnerable as a hoof-sized, deep red ruby came rocketing out of nowhere from, and slammed into the back of her skull with enough force to stagger her.
The mass of gems currently perched atop her back was hardly the entirety of what she had on hoof. Rarity was smart enough to know that putting all of her eggs in one basket would be very unwise, to say nothing of unwieldy even with her talent and magic relating to gems; instead it was just enough for the current application without being gauche or unwieldy. There were still a plethora more to draw on as they were needed, as had just been demonstrated.
Ever since Ulquiorra had given her the dragon's blood ruby during his third visit to Ponyville, she'd been wondering just what to do with such a rare and exquisite gem. But right now she was left without wonder, as it was just what she needed. With its size, weight, and the natural hardness of the corundum mineral, it was the perfect choice for beating Nightmare Moon to a bloody pulp, and that was just what she was going to do with it.
With Nightmare Moon staggered, she proceeded to switch up her tactics once again. The other germs were forgotten about and allowed to collapse and fall to the ground, as they weren't needed for her current approach. Thus she could devote her entire focus to manipulating the dragon's blood ruby itself, which would allow for much greater control and force when delivering a blow.
Which was exactly what she was doing right now as she stood on her hind legs once more, working her entire body as she swung the large stone like a long flail, while delivering blows like a solid-shafted mace without any rebound along the path of least resistance.
She swung hard, and struck from multiple angles, but she didn't swing in a wild and uncontrolled manner. She was concise, keeping her aim -mostly- focused on Nightmare Moon's head, specifically the area around her horn to generate the greatest degree of pain, damage, and disorientation. Although an occasional body or limb shot would certainly be allowed for good measure.
"I regret that it came to this, I honestly do," she stated, before walloping Nightmare Moon upside the head. "I simply abhor violence, even if it ultimately proves necessary. But you brought this upon yourself!"
It was less of an overhead hammer swing this time around, and more a straight punch right in the mouth.
"If it'd been just me it would've been one thing. But you just had to go and involve those that I love instead!" she yelled as she swung the ruby right into Nightmare Moon's right wing, hard enough a crunch of bone was all but audible. "You hurt them all dearly, and I will not allow that to stand! Nor will you!"
Clasping both front hooves together and raising them high, she brought her forelegs down hard, guiding the ruby down right on top of Nightmare Moon's spine with enough force to drop her to the ground.
She wanted to be far more eloquent than she was managing, to make Nightmare Moon understand just what she'd brought upon herself with her actions. She wanted the dark alicorn to understand the utter hatred she had for her right now. Pure, unadulterated, immeasurably deep, impossibly wide, all-encompassing hatred! But she just couldn't manage it right now. Perhaps on some level she understood taking the time for exposition wasn't a wise idea. Or perhaps it was simply the adrenaline clouding her mind.
Whatever the answer was, it ultimately wasn't important. Nightmare Moon wouldn't care. She didn't care about anything or anyone but herself, so why even bother with wasting the effort to try and formulate a speech right now? So be it then.
Despite the amount of beating she'd taken, she was still apparently coherent. Her horn was starting to glow from whatever spell she was attempting to work.
That simply wouldn't do. Rather than waiting to see just what Nightmare Moon had in store, Rarity went full preemptive strike and swung down hard, bringing the ruby right down on top of her horn to cancel her plans right then and there.
She hadn't intentionally aimed for the tip of Nightmare Moon's horn, but it'd been struck regardless of her intentions. As it did strike, there was a visible surge between the two respective magical fields resembling a static discharge at the point of contact. The next thing she knew she felt the gem violently shattering within her magical hold as if it was nothing but a cheap glass trinket.
That shouldn't have happened. If it was an emerald, yes, but not a ruby!
"Ouch..."
Snapping out of her disbelief at the development, she saw Nightmare Moon standing back up again, and stretching to pop her back.
"That hurt," she commented matter of factly as she popped her injured wing and gave it a test flap, before tucking it in back at her side.
"Good then," Rarity replied with an displeased scowl, already in the process of magically gathering a hoofful of random gems and flung them right at Nightmare Moon.
The gesture of resistance was futile and weak, and did next to nothing to actually impair Nightmare Moon's condition any. But it had been enough to make her reflexively shut her eyes just before her face was impacted. And that had been enough of an opportunity for her to follow up with another hoofful of gems, tightly bundled together in a death grip, being administered right to the side of the head.
Seeing another opening present itself, however briefly, she proceeded to grab as many gems as she could and ensnare Nightmare Moon by wrapping them around her body, before turning around and using them for the purpose of judo flipping her and slamming her onto her back on the ground as hard as she could. Surely that had to at least knock the air out of her lungs, and give them a few seconds worth of time, right?
Her teleporting out suggested otherwise.
This warranted complete evisceration...
Nightmare Moon teleporting directly into the midst of their group had caught them all off guard, sending them all reeling and scrambling in surprise before they could get a hold of themselves and regroup.
All except for Luna who stood stock-still, staring up at Nightmare Moon in fear as her dark counterpart stared back down at her, all the while grinning menacingly. Who wasted absolutely no time in plucking her up off the ground in her magic, and whirled her about to face the others to serve the role of an equine shield.
Having witnessed such underhoofed tactics being utilized once before, Rarity wasn't the least bit surprised to see it being done once again.
"Relinquish her immediately, you cowardly friend! Your fight is with me, not with her!"
"Yeah, what she said," Rainbow Dash added as she assumed an aggressive posture, ready to leap into action herself once again. "Let 'er go!"
"I think not," Nightmare Moon replied dismissively while she continued to hold Luna aloft. "None of you are in a position to be making any demands of me, and you'd do well to remember that. Lest something particularly horrible befall the little princess here!"
"Relinquish her... please..."
Nightmare Moon wasn't the only one who was confused by what had just been heard. But out of all of them, she was the only one to actually speak up and voice that confusion.
"Please?"
"Please," Rarity repeated in confirmation. "She's been through enough already. If you simply must take a hostage, then allow me to take Luna's place instead. I won't fight anymore, just please let her go," she said as she laid her gems down on the ground.
"A very tempting offer, little tailor. As well as a very generous one," Nightmare Moon admitted, "but not good enough. I have plans for each and every one of you, but little Luna here is simply too good of a hostage. I'm not about to trade her for the likes of one piddly little unicorn, no matter how much of a pain in the flank she might've been to me in all of this!"
Rarity could only sigh and close her eyes in response, before picking up her gems once again. She had tried the diplomatic approach, but Nightmare Moon was having none of it. That unfortunately left them with no other choice but to do things the hard way. Resigning herself to the reality of the situation, she opened her eyes and made ready to reengage once more. She'd just have to exercise greater than this time around to ensure Luna didn't wind up getting hit in the process.
"If not a unicorn who is a master of needle and thread, perhaps a zebra can satisfy your purposes instead!"
That hadn't come from any of them, and they all knew it. That fact could only mean one thing. Even Nightmare Moon was aware of what the implications were.
She turned around, coming face to face with Zecora herself, glaring at her, just as the zebra caught her in the face with a cloud of red powder being blown from her right hoof.
The reaction was as close to being instantaneous upon contact as one could reasonably expect under present circumstances, as Nightmare Moon began coughing violently, and showed no signs of actually being able to stop as her entire body was shuddering. The hiccuping that followed only made matters worse as she was stuck doing both simultaneously. She tried to glare but couldn't get her eyes to stay open from the amount of burning they were experiencing, nor could she make them stop watering. Nor could she do anything about the irritation up deep inside her nostrils that was serving to make her nose run, or driving her to sneezing repeatedly.
There she was, in the middle of a fight, reduced to a coughing, hiccuping, sneezing mess, leaking bodily fluids of one sort or another from nearly every orifice on her head, unable to see because of the burning in her eyes, and unable to do anything about it. If there was a more undignified manner to be in, she didn't know just what it was.
Zecora looked on at Nightmare Moon's current predicament through her one eye that wasn't currently swollen, and smiled to herself in satisfaction as Luna was now free to escape from her captivity, which she did as soon as the option presented itself.
"Kushambulia"! she bellowed triumphantly with her right foreleg held high in the air.
Apart from the sound of Nightmare Moon's various dysfunctions fighting for dominance, the forest was utterly silent in the wake of Zecora's yell. Even she seemed confused about this, before turning around and angrily shouting further.
"Attack, ponies! Attack! Attack! Attack!"
Further out of the range of combat, the underbrush hadn't been destroyed by combatants with insane levels of power at their disposal rustled with signs of life, before a veritable explosion took place as numerous ponies came barreling out from underneath the cover, and all charging straight for Nightmare Moon herself.
The others could only look on in disbelief as she was body-checked by Big Macintosh leading the stampede, slamming into her with enough force to completely lift her off her hooves and send her flying, crashing, and tumbling along the ground. Once she was back on the ground again, she was swarmed by a number of pegasi and earth ponies who proceeded to rear up onto their hind legs to stomp her repeatedly, and being none too gentle with each other on actually getting a shot of their own in.
More ponies were streaming out from their cover and into the clearing. Thunderlane, Ditzy, Vinyl Scratch, Colgate, Flitter and Cloud Chaser, Bulk Biceps, Lyra, Time Turner, Berry Punch, and so many others, easily several dozen in terms of numbers. Ponies from all varying walks of life, none of them the type one would expect to just show up and confront a mad tyrant like this, but who had still shown up regardless. Some were in possession of flashlights and lanterns to provide some degree of illumination to their party, some had shown up with whatever could be grabbed to use as a weapon, and others had come with nothing but outright fury.
"What in tarnation?" Applejack asked, more of less summing up what the others had been thinking at the moment. "What're y'all doin' here!?"
"We came to help. We can't let you mares have all the fun," Vinyl replied and shrugged. "Talk to ya later, I'mma go join in the fray while the gettin's good," she said, already making her way over to the growing swarm of ponies fighting for a piece of Nightmare Moon for themselves, and being none too conservative with their language.
Not the first time since this all began, Pinkie found herself needing to pick her lower jaw back up. All of this was proving to be too hard for even her to believe. The townsponies had actually become involved with stopping a monster, rather than running away in fear. This was all completely backwards and defied the norm! Were they in the Twilight Zone or something? Had somepony opened the wrong door without realizing it?
Wanting answers more than even chocolate cake, she quickly snatched up Zecora before she could join in on the madness, and pulled her over to them.
"Zecora! What's going on here!? Why's everypony acting like Barnyard Bargains is having a Black Friday sale?"
Zecora took a moment to get loose and collect herself before she could get a proper response out. "It is a rather long story. But without the commotion of unrestrained violence, the only thing for us to hear from town was an oppressive and unsettling silence. And we concluded that the situation was not in the sack, when we did see the Espada flying overhead with an unfamiliar pony upon his back. Fearing the worst and not knowing how this story ends, we concluded the best course of action was to come and help our friends. And though we knew we may not survive the night, we still made the decision that we would stand and fight."
There was a lot of information to be deciphered in Zecora's words, but now wasn't the time or place to go about doing that. Although the gist of it, from what Twilight could tell, was that reinforcements had arrived in the form of ponies volunteering for what they knew was a dangerous mission.
This could be either very good, or very bad, depending upon how one looked at and regarded the situation.
"Nightmare Moon has harmed far too many ponies for us to simply let this matter rest. We will aid in tending to her; even if it includes ripping her black heart right out of her chest..." Zecora continued.
"Oh. Um, Ulquiorra already tried doing just that," Fluttershy replied. "It didn't work."
Spike nodded. "Impalement. Impalement with extreme prejudice. Electrocution. Suffocation. Broken neck. Blunt force trauma. Dark magic counters. Total obliteration with a solar death beam," he said, flipping up an individual digit with each item he went through. "We've tried everything. And each time she just regenerates and undoes whatever damage we do to her."
Pinkie nodded eagerly in agreement. "Twilight thinks she's got some high-level Sōten Kisshun recovery magic on auto-cast in case she takes a lethal injury so she can shake it all off and keep going without missing a beat!"
Zecora's brow furrowed in confusion, annoyance, and was followed by a sigh and nod of understanding as she realized just what was ahead of them.
"Then we will simply not give her that opportunity. She can suffer through the full experience of the uchungu wa maumivu, while getting the crap beaten out of her by the community!"
"Zecora," Luna spoke up as she stepped forward, finding herself far more able to look the zebra in the eyes now than previously. "I cannot being to express how much I appreciate this demonstration of support. But I cannot in good conscience leave Nightmare Moon to you. You would all be much better off in the relative safety of Ponyville, far removed from the conflict."
Zecora merely shook her head in response. "Perhaps that is indeed the case, Your Highness, but we are not going anywhere. This is a crisis that affects everyone equally, be they stallion or mare. If we do not stand together to combat this threat as one, our time on this planet may soon be done. After all that you have done to try and keep us safe from attack, it is only fair and right for us to give something back. We will face Nightmare Moon at your side, and demonstrate to her that we will not be terrified. We will remain steadfast throughout this fight, to make her realize that we are cancelling eternal night!"
Luna tried to think up a response to convince Zecora of just how bad an idea this was. But so help her, she simply couldn't find the words in light of this development. There was a firm conviction behind the zebra's words, that most simply wouldn't understand unless they experienced for themselves. Even if she could summon the Royal Canterlot Voice in her present state, she doubted even that would serve as sufficient to quell this determined spirit she was seeing right now.
This was something not seen in many ponies in this modern day. Ponies demonstrating a level of dedication, determination, and commitment largely seen only in those that made up the royal guard rather than everyday citizens. No one had expected anything of them, certainly not anything like this, and yet without even being asked, they had still willingly come here to offer whatever assistance they could, even after understanding the risks they faced in doing so.
"Then I would be honored to have you all at my side. Not merely in this battle, but as my friends," she replied warmly, filled with a new sense of determination practically coursing through her veins now.
Perhaps they couldn't persevere against Nightmare Moon all on their own. But at the moment, that fact simply didn't seem to matter. Whatever was ultimately destined to come, whether or not Ulquiorra would make it back in time to do what they couldn't, they would face it head on, and they would face it together, among friends.
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cool.
Rarity was savage.
And for once, so satisfy to see the Ponyvillians raising against a threat.
Got some It (2017) vibes near the end
Rarity and Zecora were both awesome
The third deleted scene reminded me of the torture chamber cutaway from Family Guy
now rarity is a complete savage I love it those gym tentacle arm things remind me with Dr octopus used she should I use the diamond in those fifth or Orichelchem what even in alexandrite or any other Gem oh well f****** awesome
ponies swarm NMM Pikmin anyone?
Okay, okay, fuck Nightmare Moon for not pausing to comment on how clever that line is, because that is a GOOD line that even other villains in both series would have taken a moment to comment on. XD