Fear Within

by VirtualCipher

Chapter 23 - Hideous

Lost in the fog that consumed their senses, both Rarity and Pinkie Pie searched for their missing friend, screaming like there was no tomorrow. A wave of chills poked their bones, causing them to tremble and their thoughts soon to be conquered by fears, however, they remained watchful and highly alert; trying to locate Fluttershy. Left and right they searched, but the fog intervened; disrupting their progress. Rarity and Pinkie Pie screamed out their lungs, but nothing was seen through the fog nor was anyone heard.

"Pinkie, can you see her?" Rarity asked, losing her nerve.

Pinkie Pie responded with panic, "I can't see her! We lost her! What are we going to do?!"

Trying to calm herself, Rarity took a deep breath, "We can't give up on her. We'll have to progress through the fog. I know it sounds dangerous, but we can't just leave Fluttershy to... to..."

Her valorous voice was transformed into a tone of fear, "Pinkie?"

The unicorn's head darted from left to right, uneasy and brimmed with suspicion, but frightened as well. Pinkie Pie was gone, almost as if she had just faded out of existence. Not a trace was left of her; no evidence of being within the fog. Her heart began to beat at a rapid state, nearly pounding out of her chest. Fluttershy and now Pinkie Pie was gone, was something after them, snatching them away or is her mind playing tricks on her?

"Pinkie?! Show yourself, this isn't the time for games!"

...

No response reached out to her worried voice.

"Pinkie?!"

Again, Rarity inhaled the infected air by taking another deep breath, stressing over the choices that remained. She took notice of a cragged pathway, leading to the unknown due to the fog. Badly, Rarity wanted to turn back but leaving Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy to suffer wasn't an option for her, she wouldn't allow it Boldy, she followed the path, calling out for her friends. At this point, Rarity was acting as a beacon for life.

"Anypony?" Rarity yelled.

She was lost in desperation, sinking deep into a hole of anxiety. It felt like the mist was stroking her skin, gently, but uncomfortably pestering her. The constant thought of her friends suffering made her feel nauseous and agitated.

"Fluttershy? Pinkie Pie?" She shouted, hoping for at least one of them to respond.

After searching for any sign of life or clues, she finally came across something odd. She didn't know how to feel about it, being scared, confused, happy didn't seem to match her facial expressions, she just looked blank like a piece of paper with no imagination splashed onto its canvas. The rough pathway she had followed led her to a lone door. Just a door. It didn't seem connected to anything, it was just an oak wood door that looked dirty and lonely.

"Well, that's not the suspicious thing I've seen all day," Rarity stated.

This felt like one of Discord's old tricks, but he wasn't here. The thought of her absent friend upset her, but this wasn't the time for grieving, she had to locate her friends. Rarity hesitated to approach the isolated door, overcome with angst but also curiosity. Finally, her hoof leaned against the door, pushing it open to reveal darkness. Rarity's eyes widened in disbelief, thinking that this would have been some sort of distraction, but the fact that this detached door led to another world. She was flabbergasted.

She checked behind the door to see nothing connected, which meant that gateway before her was some sort of portal. She was presented with two options: Helplessly wander the fog and continue to helplessly call for her friends, or enter through the portal with better hopes of finding any trace of life. The white unicorn encouraged herself to go in, slowly advancing; entering the dark void that called to her. The moment she entered, the first thing she did was signal her friends.

"Pinkie Pie? Fluttershy?"

The lack of light bothered Rarity to no end, it supplied her with worriment and alertness. Questions generated in her mind as it took in the effects of the fog.

"Is anypony here?" She asked.

Barely, Rarity could make out her surroundings, she was in a room, one that looked familiar. The unicorn's bones nearly shattered into pieces when her ear drums burst, noticing the door that she had entered through slammed shut. In response, Rarity let out a yelp, the sudden abrupt noise nearly caused her heart to jump out of her chest. No longer was the darkness absolute, above her head was a dim light flickering on and off which allowed her to visualise her location. Around her were mannequins, the same kind she'd use to display her clothes on. Except these models were tattered and looked a little formidable and old. She couldn't help but feel like they were watching her.

Rarity grew uncomfortable with the light constantly flickering on and off, however, it did a good job of brightening the room a little, but it began to annoy her. Without warning, she was struck with nausea, the constant feeling of being alone and desperately searching for her friends had decayed her system; rotting her thoughts with anxiety.

"What is this place?"

Immediately, something tingled within Rarity's mouth, the sensation she felt was aggravating and excruciating by the second. It wasn't long before the whole of her teeth began to ache and send signals of pain. Feeling damaged and irritated by the sudden pain, Rarity couldn't go on, her teeth began to grow worse, she couldn't even speak, she was too focused on unpleasant aching.

Much to her satisfaction, the pain had stopped within an instant, however, it came at a heavy price.

"Ah." She moaned in discomfort. "That was rather odd."

Firmly, she raised her hoof and rubbed against the side of her cheek, trying to soothe the dying pain that infiltrated her teeth. Once the unicorn took control over her own mouth again, the sound of multiple cracks could be heard. Terror-stricken, Rarity's eyes widened upon hearing the dreadful noise, her teeth shattered into pieces, falling out of her mouth almost if she was vomiting. Tiny, little pieces of her teeth spilt onto the floor, cracked and broken. The unicorn was left stunned as every fractured piece of her teeth crumbled before her.

She couldn't express her fear through words, she just looked at the ground where the remnants of her teeth lied. Shocked is what she was, scared and bewildered to what had just happened. Even if she could speak, her words would be processed as an incoherent mess. To make matters worse, Rarity's attention was focused on her mane. Disturbed, she noticed shreds of it fall onto the ground, ripping into pieces for no reason at all. Nothing was attacking her, she was becoming something she feared...

With her hair falling out and toothless, Rarity exited the dreadful room by using the door she entered through. The fog was gone, she wasn't in Tartarus. Instead, what she had stumbled upon were a maze of mirrors that displayed her image, constantly reminding her of her appearance.

"Wh-Wha..." Rarity spoke, although, it was difficult without the help of her teeth.

Cockroaches and spiders along with maggots roamed the maze, causing the fear to boil within Rarity's blood. They oddly became attracted to her, crawling and wiggling their way towards her. Brimmed with fright, Rarity screamed while running through the maze or mirrors as she felt herself becoming weaker by each mirror she passed. They all displaced her features of beauty slowly transforming into her something horrid, she was becoming a mess of discomfort.

Voices crawled into her mind that insulted her, calling her ugly, disgusting, awful, horrid and creepy. Her screams echoed through the maze, constantly calling for help. The mirrors around her slowly began to crack and her image became much worse.

For a while, she continued to run, but everywhere she turned it was all the same, just mirrors that showed her appearance fading into disgust. Hopeless, her path was blocked by the endless trail of mirrors. Abruptly, the mirrors around her shattered into pieces just like her teeth earlier. No longer could she see what she looked like, the mirrors that taunted her were gone. The unicorn came to a stop, shaking off any lingering bugs that roamed on her back. Overcome with fear, Rarity broke down and burst out into tears as her body slowly decayed along with her beauty being robbed. She was wrapped in the arms of grief. It was unknown to her that she was slowly transforming further into something she despised.

"Make it- Make it stop!" Rarity sobbed.

The tears continued to burst as she refused to accept the changes overwhelming her body, she was sick... Scared. Despite her sadness consuming her, she picked up the sound of steps being taken. She encouraged herself to lift her head to see where they were coming from. Behind her, she was faced with a small, green hill. Looking down at her were her friends... Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Starlight. They found her.

Wiping her glassy layers of tears from her face, Rarity brought her friends a smile of relief and contentment.

"You... You found me..." Despite having no teeth, she continued to do her best to speak.

Sadly, the relief and contentment that expanded across her emotions didn't last long.

"What is that thing?" Rainbow Dash asked in a disgusted tone.

Horrified by her question as well as feeling insulted, Rarity responded with irritation and misery. "R-Rainbow, it's me..." Again, the loss of her teeth made her speaking much worse.

"What's it sayin', Twilight?" Applejack asked.

"In all honesty, Applejack, I don't know. I don't even know what this creature is," Twilight stated.

"It- It's me... Rarity! I'm your friend!" She shouted.

"It's getting aggressive," Rainbow Dash warned, putting herself in a position to fight.

"Maybe it's just scared, Rainbow," Fluttershy commented.

"That thing?!" Rainbow Dash bellowed. "Look at it, what does a thing like that have to be afraid of."

Rarity felt betrayed, she was being mocked, insulted and observed like some sort of wild animal. These were her friends and they saw her as some sort of creature.

"It's certainly doing an excellent job of creeping me out," Pinkie Pie shivered.

"Do you think it can understand us?" Starlight asked.

"Yes! Yes, I can!" She answered.

"Too bad we can't understand it..." Twilight said with annoyance.

"Why can't you recognise me?!" Rarity screamed.

"Not to be rude, but can we hurry this up?"

Upon hearing that voice, she was stunned to see another pony emerge up the hill to look down on her. Next to Fluttershy felt like she was staring into another mirror, but she wasn't. She looked directly at the unicorn. It was her... Another Rarity.

"This thing's appearance is knocking me rather sick..." Her clone commented.

Rarity's lip trembled, looking up at herself. "You're... You're me..."

"Darling, why is it staring at me?" The clone of Rarity asked Twilight.

"You're me..."

"Twilight, we need to do something about this now! This thing has been haunting Ponyville for months now and the fillies can't get to sleep at night," Rainbow advised.

Not knowing how to deal with the situation before her, Twilight sighed, "You're right. A thing like this needs to be put in the Everfree Forest or a cave."

"Or Tartarus..." Rarity's lookalike said.

"It's me! WHY CAN'T YOU RECOGNIZE ME!" Rarity screamed.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash were put on guard while Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy cowered behind them. Promptly, Twilight and Starlight both emitted a beam from their horns that restrained her from moving. Although the spell wasn't fatal, Rarity collapsed onto the ground in pain where she noticed the fragments of the broken mirrors below her. She could make out her face, her lips were sewn, her face was stitched and her eyes were black and empty like a void. The beauty she failed to recognise was replaced with scars and gashes, she couldn't even recognise herself. It was almost as if something took her looks and was given features of a beast. Her reflection was that of a hideous monster, disgusting and repulsive. This is what her friends could see, her face was the definition of a mess.

"No... No!" Rarity screamed, her voice nearly breaking from dread.

The way she looked passed through her like a hurricane. Devastated, she elevated her head back up, expecting to see her friends judging her, but they were gone. Only one soul stared at her. Each eye of his haunted her as he forged his way closer, his face brought terror as she was helpless to move. Once again, he faded in and out of reality. Finally, he knelt down in front of the unicorn, his hand gripping her horn.

Fright's quiet and devilish voice continued to break her mind, clawing her ears. "Your beauty is related to time, Rarity... It will expire..."

Her vision shifted from staring at Fright to complete and total darkness, her fears deepening.

"Let your sanity fly, allow your mind to break loose..."

Comments

[Draconicus the Reaper]

good chapter, but I'm about to rant so please don't think I'm hating on the chapter this is all just my mentality of the situation
but I'm not a big Rarity fan and this is exactly why.....I mean this does make sense for her fear it really does, but that's my issue because so far she's the only one's fear that didn't involve not being able to protect a friend or loved one and yeah I know not every one always thinks the worst in that regard like I'm afraid of heights and that has nothing to due with my family being killed and when you do dig down into what Rarity's fear really is and what it means.....it is sad to think she's afraid of being replaced in the eyes of her friends, I just cant take the cover up fear seriously....just because with everypony else's fear being unable to save their loved ones, her fear of losing her beauty seems so stuck up and snobby to me......and I don't even know why?

[VirtualCipher]

8400091
I completely understand, while I've been writing these fear chapters, I've been trying to work the nightmares around their characters. What I planned from this chapter was basically Rarity becoming something disgusting and horrific, losing her beauty, but not just that, her appearance. She became something her friends didn't even recognise which to me, is a little disheartening. I know if I became something repulsive and my loved ones didn't recognise me, I'd be shattered.

Yeah, but opinions are opinions and I respect your comment. We just have different views on what scares us. Also, thanks for reading!

[JazzTheFox53rd]

Hmmm. Interesting choice on Rarity's fear. I would also be shattered if my own family didn't recognize me. Anyways onto the next chapter.

[kahnac]

Man. We all know Rarity holds her own beauty in high regard, second only to her generous nature to her friends. And i'm sure losing that beauty IS something she'd be afraid of.............but this is so horrifying in how such fears are presented. Like she literally withered away into a horrible iteration of herself that was so morbid, noone could recognize it - not even herself. Guess this is the reason why we should remember beauty is a thing that exists within as well as out.

[billykilly]

This is very, very well done. I can actually vision Rarity going through this word for word. Great job!

[Eonflare]

Wow, clever. Sometimes I wonder which fears are the best to prey on.

[Jade Dawn]

8400773

Guess this is the reason why we should remember beauty is a thing that exists within as well as out.

Amen to that.

[Rainbow sparkle1]

Interesting, I thought that pinkie and rarity were going to get the same chapter, but I was wrong