Duskfall

by Celestial Swordsman

Prize of a Lie

Chapter 34

A cry split the morning. Rainbow Dash and Applejack jumped to their hooves in readiness. Twilight rolled over and groaned at being rudely awakened. Through squinty eyes she saw Rarity sitting up and staring at her mirror with horror on her face.

“What’s wrong?” Applejack asked urgently, ready to help with any emergency. Captain Dash had instinctively drawn her knife, but now she did not see anything to do with it.

“It’s too awful!” Rarity wailed. “I have wrinkles.”

“Don’t get yourself worked up, you don’t have wrinkles,” Twilight assured her. Looking closer however, the friendly magician’s eyes widened, and she added, “But, uh, if you did have wrinkles, it would be from worrying too much.”

“AAAUUGGHH, I knew it, I do have wrinkles!” Rarity cried. Summoning her strength, she peeked again at the terrible vision in the mirror. She saw the white face she loved, but worn and weathered. The bags under her eyes might go away, but the folds on her cheeks were not the kind of thing that would come and go.

Applejack scanned her worn-out face and suggested sympathetically, “Dang girl, maybe you SHOULD have a cigarette.”

Pinkie Pie, still not comfortable with emotions besides happiness, smiled and fired off this gem: “Friends don’t get wrinkles, they get laugh lines.”

“Oh, I’m hideous!” the queen of fabulosity moaned. “I’m getting old and… and frumpy!”

Rainbow Dash sighed and put away her blade. “It’s not that bad,” she dismissed.

Rarity was appalled. “Not… that… bad?!” she repeated in exasperation.

The Solar Scout had meant no harm and shrugged. “Uh, yeah… Most of the officers I really respect have scars or wrinkles. It just means they have more experience.” She turned her head to show off her own scar to all present. “I haven’t even told any of you my scar story yet,” she noted eagerly.

“Ooh, tell me, tell me!” piped Pinkie Pie.

“I don’t want to be experienced,” Rarity whimpered, “I want to be beautiful.”

Through this, two ponies had remained silent. Little Celestia wilted under Fluttershy’s accusing stare. Unable to get a word in without incriminating herself, she turned to meet the pegasus’s killer look. “Yikes, I thought her element was kindness,” she thought, and whispered, “Can you get her to go outside? Let me apologize to her in private.”

Fluttershy nodded slightly, and stood up. “I… I have something to say,” she hesitantly announced. The others all looked her way, paying close attention to the uncharacteristic move.
“I… you… um,” she mumbled.

She gathered her strength and declared, “I think you’re prettier than a hickory tree.” The stares turned to confusion. “And, um, shadows make things look worse. Maybe you should step outside, and, um, see what the natural light says.”

“Thank you, Fluttershy. You’re quite right, the lighting is bad for sure.” Rarity collected herself and left with a dignified gait.

Twilight flumped back down to reclaim her morning rest. Rainbow Dash regaled the group with a tale of heroic exploits. Pinkie Pie soaked it up eagerly, but Applejack was more skeptical.

Celestia slipped out unnoticed. She found Rarity panting with anxiety, as if her life was in the balance. Celestia waited quietly behind her. “This is a good view,” she thought. “Remember, you’re here for your life, not her flank,” she consciously chided. Uncontrolled, “A bonus?” shot through her mind.

Rarity took a deep breath, steadied herself, and looked once more into the mirror. She cringed and stifled an “Eeep!”

Dusk approached and consoled, “I understand how you feel. It’s okay. It’s nothing we can’t get through.”

“How can it be okay when I have wrinkles?!” Rarity demanded. Her expression was lost and hopeless through the signs of age.

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” Celestia asserted. “Look here,” she said, indicating the cut on her breast. “I’ve had this scar for quite some time, but have you seen it on any broadcasts?”

Rarity considered the question and, perplexed, shook her head.

With hardly a stir from her horn Celestia replaced the illusion that always covered the blight, and smiled cunningly. “I don’t have a scar.” Concentrating on the unicorn’s distressed skin, she performed a similar spell—a disillusion. “Now you don’t have wrinkles.”

Rarity felt her face and snatched up the mirror and greeted her usual good looks with a forceful sigh of relief. Her frown slowly reasserted. “Thank you, I suppose. I’ll know though, it won’t be real.”

“That’s something to worry about if the world actually goes on,” Celestia dismissed. The diminutive duskling hung her head and lamented, “If I don’t stop it, I suppose everything beautiful will go away forever,” as if she doubted her chances.

Rarity was pried away from her thoughts of herself and looked out to the horizon. “Do you think that’s really true? What a horrible thought.”

Celestia followed her view and reconsidered, “On second thought, the trees and the decorations of civilization will wither, but much of what is really beautiful will remain. Gems will still be in the dark of the earth and stars will still reflect off the rolling waves of the ocean.”

“I thought beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” the unicorn warily repeated. “Wouldn’t all those things be unfulfilled if there was no one to see them?”

Celestia had intended her to grasp that, but only subconsciously. Despite Rarity’s preoccupations, she had a quick wit. “Well shit,” the slippery harbinger reacted flatly.

Rarity squinted sideways at her supposed helper. She guessed that Celestia was too intelligent to stumble so on philosophical matters. The old ruler seemed nervous under her scrutiny. The little gray thing bulged her eyes and started to shake.

With a sudden realization, Rarity asked, “Are you alright?”

“Help,” Celestia whispered between quick, irregular breaths. “Get help.”

“Twilight!” Rarity barked at the tent before galloping towards the rest of the camp. Celestia tried to keep herself under control and somehow stop whatever triggered the episode, but it came anyway. It came hard. A flesh-ember started deep inside her and embedded in a lung. She cried aloud to expel the scorching air and smoke, and stumbled forward. She coughed uncontrollably, but began to march forward. Another dried out her intestines as it crossed them.

Doctor Sparkle emerged from the tent and ran to her. “What’s wrong? Hold still!”

The damned pony continued ahead as if she could leave it behind. More excruciating sparks; her stomach heaved, competing with the coughs, but what came out was a burning lump that stuck to her esophagus. She paused in her stride, faint from lack of breath and in suspense as it threatened to make another opening in her throat. Twilight perceived the phenomenon and fired a bolt of magic from her horn that quenched the unnatural ember.

Celestia swallowed to painfully clear her throat so that she could cough some more, and resumed her course. “Stop, don’t,” Twilight ordered incompletely in urgent frustration.

The afflicted alicorn stammered through blood-stained lips, “I have to—“ An unbearable jet of heat came up from between her hind legs and caused them to fail as it impacted her spine. She moaned, gritted her teeth, and pulled herself forward on two hooves. One angry coal in her waist caused her to become incontinent before lodging on her flank; Twilight grimaced and extinguished it. Another attack grazed her skull, causing her to finally collapse.

Rarity returned with help. As she arrived, Luna cleared out the brush and obstacles from where her stricken sister had wandered. Medic Redheart and her assistants assessed the situation while they let the magicians do what they could. “Prepare the crystalloid solution for fluid therapy,” she ordered. Luna and Twilight took some of the heat out of the condition, but could not stop it until it had run its course.

Lying half-consciously in her own blood and feces, Celestia clung to life. Wet towels were draped over her and IVs started as intensive burn treatment began.

Rarity watched the scene despite its vulgarity. A Darkfold Star caught her eye. Starved for light, it had run up the trunk of a nearby tree. Now it was shriveled and its leaves were losing their color. The once-stunning bloom was wilted and dangled just beyond the place where Celestia fell. It had dropped most of its pedals, showing a bare brown stalk in the center. Her heart was heavy as she considered the plight of beauty in herself, the Princess, and the magnificent flower. One does not grow younger, but the latter two could possibly be saved. Nothing so fabulous should be allowed to die out, she decided. She would not let it.

Comments

[Dawn Darkling]

It seems every other chapter i go: "Woah, intense."
Although, with this one I couldn't tell what her lie was. The thing she was supposed to undo I have not grasped. Whether it was undone when Celestia cast that illusion on Rarity or whatever, I suppose I'll see soon.