5: Diamonds Don't Scratch Easy, Darling
Rarity caught the first dart without that much thought. The second and third darts were granted a little twitch of notice, but it wasn't until Rarity realised that she had just caught eight small, sharp, flying projectiles that she deemed it necessary to look up from her sewing and find out why.
A strange pony stood in her room, blinking at her in surprise. Rarity's eyes flicked between her and the darts held in her aura, and then-
A strange pony was in her room! In her house!
Not only that, but this mare had thrown darts at her. Rarity took a moment to examine the other unicorn, who was lowering some sort of pipe from her mouth and now staring slack-jawed. She was a rather offensive red-orange colour, almost fluorescent, with a bold blue and pink mane. A tiny part of Rarity immediately began trying to find an appropriate colour palette to match that wasn't the plain brown pair of saddlebags sitting across the mare's back. That tiny part began to sob, and Rarity hushed it, because the bigger part of her brain was trying to work out why in Equestria anypony would break into her home and throw darts at her.
"You caught them? What in the muck?"
There was a long pause. Rarity closed her eyes for a second and put down the appliqué that she had been working on.
"Why, exactly, are you in my home," she asked, opening her eyes again. "Flinging darts and expletives at me?"
The orange unicorn frowned. "Guess it'll have to be the hard way."
She took a step forwards, and Rarity glimpsed the knife mark on her rump. Also, the knife that the mare had pulled from her saddlebags. That one was probably the more important of the two.
"Oh, I see," said Rarity. This pony was here to kill her, how inconvenient.
The orange mare grinned. "Sorry, Miss Guardian of Generosity, but I've been paid for this."
Rarity's brow creased into a delicate frown. So that was how things were.
"I," she said. "Do not have time to be assassinated today."
The intruder frowned. "Wh-"
"I," she said, louder now. "Am on a deadline." Rarity brandished the darts at the hired killer, and dropped them into the nearby wastebin.
"Kindly leave."
The strange mare frowned harder. "I don't think you understand how this works."
Rarity sighed. "I suppose I don't have any choice, do I?"
"That's right," said the mare. "Nice and qui-"
"I do hate being so brutish, but desperate times call for desperate measures." Rarity's horn began to glow. The other unicorn was stopped in her tracks as her hooves were encased by Rarity's sparkling blue aura.
"Ugh, you think this is going to stop me?" The orange mare pulled a face, and lifted the knife in her own pinkish telekinesis, aiming it at Rarity. A spot of blue aura suddenly drew towards her, something silvery within it. The stranger froze when she realised what it was and just how close it was getting to her eye. She dropped the knife.
"No." Rarity's expression went flat as she caught the weapon and set it gently down on her workbench. Dozens more needles and pins were now floating in the air, surrounding the interloper. Her bright pink eyes fixed on Rarity's blue ones.
"But these might."
"Needles?" The stranger drew herself up, but there was a distinct quaver in her voice, and Rarity knew that she had her. "Needles don't scare me."
Rarity sniffed. "And pins, darling. There is a vast difference between the two."
The stranger bared her teeth. "You're a fashion designer. You don't have the stomach to do anything."
"No?" Rarity asked. She narrowed her eyes.
She focused the magical grip on one of the strange mare's forehooves increase, bending the hock to turn the frog up to the air like a farrier or a spa pony might in order to tend to the hoof. Unlike a farrier or spa pony, however, Rarity's intentions had nothing to do with hoof care.
Rarity jabbed one needle into the other mare's soft and tender frog.
The mare yelped in pain and tried to tug herself out of Rarity's grip, but Rarity squeezed at the tendons and the stranger stopped struggling very quickly. She turned her gaze back to Rarity, and now her eyes were wider and warier.
"Now, if you will, consider very carefully what else I can do with but a single one of these needles. Or pins. Your eyes would not take much to pierce, Neither your tongue nor ears. I could find things deeper to puncture - lungs, oesophagus, magiperae, stomach, kidneys, gall bladder, caecum. There are so many things one needs to survive that are so easily... ruptured. Or I could remain at the surface where things are less, hm, messy," said the white unicorn. "You see, Miss, ah?"
"Berry Blade," the assassin said meekly.
Rarity nodded. "Miss Berry Blade. I have a rather wide range of hobbies, along with my dressmaking business. Primarily among those, I rather enjoy martial arts for keeping my waistline trim and my muscles toned. I enjoy visiting the spa because it keeps me relaxed. I have recently begun requesting the services of their acupuncturist, and we have had several delightful discussions about pressure points. Thus, I think you can grasp that I am rather clued up, as I believe the saying goes, about the anatomy of a pony, what she requires to function adequately, and where exactly I can impede that function with but a single pin. Is that quite clear?"
"Y-yes ma'am," said Berry Blade. "Very clear, ma'am."
"Good." The array of small sharp pointy things was joined by the darts, and Rarity watched Berry Blade's pupils shrink. "These darts... are they poisoned, Miss Berry Blade?"
Berry Blade nodded, barely. "Yes. It's- it's a conotoxin. You're paralysed and unconscious within seconds. Dead in a few more."
"Hm, well I certainly don't want Sweetie Belle getting at these. I shall bring them along with us, so be very well-behaved," said Rarity, loosening her grip on Berry Blade's hooves. The knife she could simply place on a high shelf - Sweetie was at least sensible enough to know not to play with blades unattended. "Turn around. We will take a walk and see what Princess Twilight Sparkle has to say about this attempt on my life. Yes, on your frog. I dare say it serves you right."
Berry Blade grimaced as she walked on her pricked frog, but Rarity was pleased to see that she wasn't trying to drop the pace Rarity has decided to set as they made their way through Carousel Boutique and out of the door.
Rarity tossed her mane and huffed as she cast one glance back at the rack of finished dresses from her latest commission. Oh, she still had so much more to do! "You know, my client shall not be happy about this delay on my work, Miss Berry Blade, but I'm sure she'll make an exemption for an assassination attempt. If not? I hope that you will be expected to pay for any of my lost revenue in addition to whatever your sentence for hiring yourself out as a murderer is."
"Uh, sure."
A blur of motion caught Rarity's eye, and she spotted Applejack and Pinkie Pie moving at quite a clip a little way off. Ah. So something was afoot in Ponyville? Perhaps Berry Blade was not working alone...
"Enough chatter," Rarity told her would-be assassin. "It's time for us to run."
Rarity is scary. 
If I remember correctly, this chapter was the core inspiration for the story itself. I was thinking about how, while she doesn't quite measure up to ponies who have magical ability as a Talent, she's still frighteningly capable.
She has a large spell repertoire, and of course the icing on the cake and the focus of this chapter: impeccable telekinesis skills and access to many small pointy things.
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Pretty much called it!
I'm trying to imagine the funniest possible failure for the attempt on Twilight...
My favorite idea is that unlike her friends she fails to avoid any of it and they catch her asleep in a pile of books... But she's an alicorn and they can't manage to actually harm her or even disturb her nap. Then Spike roasts them.
What did Apple jack do?! I actually wish to know the play by play because the word 'victim' implies much.
10896036
Spike has messenger flame. The assailant doesn't get roasted, they get sent to Princess Celestia.
I’d like to imagine Rarity caught those because she has been trained by experience in watching over the crusaders and Sweetie in particular. I wonder how many times it would take Rarity to become blasé about having theoretically life threatening objects accidentally hurled at her face.
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Five times.
The first painful experience.
The second and third for sensing and dodging.
Fourth to practice the technique.
Fifth is the success and comfort at it.
~Skeeter The Lurker
10896036
I'm imagining something closer to this:
[Pony] stealthily creeps through the castle, having already ensured that she won't be incinerated by the local dragon or spotted by the insane, slightly paler, purplish pony who hangs around with Twilight. Soundlessly wending through the stacks of books, she hears the characteristic buzz of magic nearby. As she rounds a corner, Twilight is leaning muzzle-first into a tome with several bookmarks inside. As she lifts her weapon, Twilight's horn flares, and the pony's hooves are suddenly encased in concrete. She looks over and grins brightly, "Y'know, I was reading about assassins only a couple of years back, and was disappointed to learn they hadn't been studied psychiatrically in any depth. As you were coming in, I did consider just petrifying you like we did Discord a while back, but I couldn't analyze your brain too well when it was made of quartzite." A bag pops into place beside Twilight, which rolls open to display several types of surgical implements, "I also considered freezing your heart solid, but after experimenting on a half-orange frog I realized that just cutting the brain open and taking slices didn't really give me any insight to what it was thinking. Of course, if you aren't willing to work with me, I can use that as Plan B...."
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Applejack 'Offscreened' her. That may or may not require Discord to piece her back together again.
Not surprised that Rarity just easily delt with it.
10896036
Alicorns aren't invulnerable. But perhaps the assassin succeeds - and Twilight just comes back. Rinse and repeat.
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Depends on what exactly Spike would intend to do with the crook. He's perfectly capable of just straight-up burning things.
This is brilliant. I'm looking forward to Twilight.
Hmmmm. Okay, obviously she doesn't need the relations to visit. Though I'm still betting that one of her parents is related to organized crime. No, not because of what she can do. It's that bloody scary as hell "I'm not only capable of killing you a hundred different ways, but I can make it VERY painful if you don't cooperate right now" delivered in a absolutetly calm manner. That is what sends shivers up a normal persons spine.
Also, anyone thinking that maybe she got the money to start her botique teaching the Royal Guard's advanced aggressive interrogation courses?
Yes
...good lord, Rarity is terrifying when she wants to be...
I do love that it started with her not even realizing she was catching the darts, and that she treats an assassination attempt as a "minor inconvenience" that she hopes she can reschedule.
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No, its not just you. Especially if you consider what she could do with real power at her hooves. Brrr...
10896063
Who are you and why are you disturbing Twilight? Nevermind, FLAMES!
I love exploring Rarity being secretly hardcore. "I'm far too busy to be assassinated", right up there with, "I ain't got time to bleed."
Also it reminds me of a fic where a tired Rarity learns Applejack has decided to try out a new hair cut. A mullet. Sudden wall of scissors. "Oh that just won't do at all darling."
Most of my friends are artists, and I must say this tracks. Anyone who does custom art for a living is stronger than you, tempered in the hellfire of entitled cheapskates and creative blocks, and should be respected and feared accordingly.
Rarity is definitely a master of telekinesis. She routinely manipulate objects out of her line of sight, sewing even hems like she does implies sub-millimeter precision, and there are scenes where she manipulates dozens of objects at a time.
Meanwhile, one of the hardest tricks for a juggler is juggling objects of different weights and sizes. It's a classic juggling feat to juggle a watermelon, a penny, and an egg at the same time.
Now go watch The Art of the Dress and consider that bit in the middle where she's standing in the middle of a telekinetic whirlwind of ten ponyquins, 5 bolts of of cloth, two pairs of scissors, a bottle of glue, a spool of thread and a pin cushion...all at once, while walking on her hind legs and singing.
As you say, frighteningly capable.
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Remember that this is the pony who was abducted into slavery by diamond dogs, and rather than needing rescue, turned the tables on her abductors and walked out with all of their gems.
Yeah, interrupting Rarity when she has a deadline is not a career enhancing move.