Lairs & Lycanthropy: Revival

by NeoNagasaki

The Pawn in the Eighth Row

Rainbow Dash stumbled back a bit, fighting the urge to try and look at her horn. "This is it, Discord?" She said with a mocking smile, "This is your grand finale? You give the power to me and I turn on my friends? I'm the element of -loyalty- remember? I'd never turn on my friends."

Hesitantly Rainbow curled her wings about in front of her, admiring their luster. She had to admit, as far as bribes go, this one wasn’t bad. Still, she wasn’t about to give him the satisfaction. Despite her chiding he grinned and the air about them stilled, even as Celestia struggled on the table.

With a smile the beast creature sat back in his chair, crossing his arms, “Oh Rainbow, I do love how absolutely -thick- you are. My part in this is over, the GM turns off, I turn back into a statue, and you do whatever you want...after all, you -are- a princess now.”

Rainbow looked in confusion to each of her friends. As her eyes fell across her pink friend a stab of fear ran through her mind. Pinkie had paled and shriveled, her eyes growing wide with worry. The pink mare knew something; she was just a bit faster on the uptake than the rest of them. “What is it?” Rainbow said quickly, “Pinkie what’s wrong?”

The six of them turned to look at the pink mare, who only shook her head slowly, staring at the ground. "Rainbow..." Pinkie said in a pleading whisper, "Don't listen to him. Whatever he says, don't listen."

Rainbow cocked an eyebrow in confusion and curiosity, "What could he say? We've got the elements and I have all of his power. He's done, he's all out of moves."

Rarity’s eyes twitched furiously before she drew a dagger, “I’ll get our princess.” She said curtly, “If you wouldn’t mind Rainbow, make sure he keeps away from me.” Setting the hilt in her teeth Rarity rushed past Discord and jumped onto the table, scattering the various prepared foods in her wake.

Discord smiled pleasantly as he looked over one of his claws, “So Rainbow. Don’t I get a thank you or anything? I just made you a princess! One of...what, four in all of Equestria? You’ll probably get your own kingdom to manage and everything. Maybe Ponyville can be the new capital?”

Twilight marched forward, glowering at the beast, “Rainbow Dash is -not- a princess. We’ll find a way to revert her back to normal after we deal with you!” A twinge of irritation shot through Rainbow Dash. She didn’t like it when people started talking on her behalf, but whatever Discord’s plan was she could rely on her friends to see her through.

Discord stopped, with a feigned wounded expression, “You’re just going to throw my gift away? But why? Think of all the ponies she could help with that kind of power. You’re going to throw it all away because of spite?”

Rainbow hesitated before stepping forward confidently, “We’ll sort that out after everything is back to normal. I’m not about to thank you though. You don’t thank people who surrender when you have the upper hand.”

Discord gave a small laugh, “Oh Rainbow, is that what you think? That I did all of this to cause trouble and amuse myself and you just happened to beat me?”

Rainbow blinked uncertainly, “Errr....yeah?” She looked to her friends and then back again, “I mean...yeah, that seems right.”

The smile across Discord's face wavered as he stood, stepping closer and snatching something from the table in his clawed forearms. Rainbow ignored it; it was too small to be a weapon. " Don’t be silly Rainbow, all of this was about you from the start. Every last step of the way was about you. Last time I did what I had to so Pinkie could see, but this time it’s your turn."

Rainbow took a step backward, feeling terribly uncomfortable all of a sudden. They were holding all the cards, but still his reassuringly silken voice flowed down her spine and made her soul shiver. "You think this is somehow my perfect world?” She asked “My fantasy? This was never about me, you’ve just lost, and now you’re getting desperate."

Despite the great power she could feel coursing through her veins, her words did little quell his verbal assault, "Pinkie needed to see the world she needed to see. You’re not her, you’re different. I love the sound of that, it’s beautiful, -difffffferent-.” He paused to smile whimsically at his own words. “I gave you this, I made this entire world because it’s the best world to give you something almost nopony has had in the last thousand years."

Rainbow scoffed, shooting him an irritated glare "Power?"

"No child." Discord said softly, "A choice."

With a snap, the band holding Celestia's gag in place fell to the table. Immediately Rarity moved to another bond.

"Stop him!" Celestia screamed, "Turn him to stone now!"

At her word Twilight jumped immediately into position, standing proudly, "You heard her girls, form up!"

The other ponies hastily scampered together ready to attack, but under Discord's gaze Rainbow hesitated.

"Rainbow! You heard Celestia, hurry!" Twilight urged, a hint of panic in her voice.

"Well?" Discord asked with a shrug, "What do you think, Princess Dash? Is it moral to attack a helpless opponent who surrendered to you? Or do you have something else to say?"

Rainbow looked from Discord, to Celestia, to her friends. This was wrong wasn’t it? It felt wrong, it was over, they -won-. She hesitated, the words on her tongue burned and ripped and tore as they fought their way out of her. Finally she summed up every bit of courage she could muster to say it: "Why?" The words burned through the air; Rainbow felt like she’d moved a mountain for all the effort it took. It was such a simple, reasonable question wasn’t it? Why did her friend’s eyes feel like weights bearing down on her?

Pinkie sat, putting her hooves on her head in despair while the other ponies stared at Rainbow, their mouths open in silent horror.

"Rainbow!" Twilight urged, "He's corrupting you! You have to see that. We need to do what Celestia says and end this now!"

Rainbow's eyes narrowed, now that she’d found the resolve to question she wasn’t backing down. They could make up later. For now though, questions. "What? No! Asking why something is right or wrong is always the right thing to do. How is asking for a reason being corrupted?"

"That's the thing," Discord said with a sigh, "They've never known any differently Rainbow. Things were right because Celestia said they were. That's why my world seems so scary, it questions her. It’s defies the natural order of everything they understand."

Rainbow shot him a look, equally wary of his double talk, "Celestia is a good pony. She's made Equestria wonderful for a thousand years."

Discord gave a solemn nod, "Oh you won't get any argument from me Rainbow. She's a wonderful pony, but a thousand years ago she got the power to fix everything, and no one has made a single choice since then. The world's a dull place now."

Celestia spat angrily on the table, "Dull? I brought peace!"

Discord shrugged, "You brought order."

Rainbow shook her head slowly, starting to pace; everything was swimming and felt muffled. It was hard to tell if it was her or the world going mad. Questions -... yes, asking questions were the best way to find reason, that made sense right? That’s how she figured out what Twilight was talking about when she went off talking about ... something.

"How are peace and order different?" Rainbow demanded, locking eyes with Discord coldly. Somehow since she’d gained this power, control of the room revolved around her. No, not since the power, since she started asking questions. It was like she'd picked up a loaded crossbow and everyone but Discord and Celestia had started to tiptoe around her. Why were her friends afraid? They knew her. They knew she'd never hurt them. She loved them.

Discord grinned, thriving on her confusion, or her search for answers, it was hard to say, "Peace is merely the absence of war, order is the enforced absence of war."

Rainbow shook her head in exasperation, "They're practically the same thing!"

Discord scoffed, looking insulted, "Come on Rainbow, have you even seen your world? You're not ponies, you're products, built like cogs to fit into a system with nary a hair out of place. Why even give you real names when you can have designations?" In a heartbeat he scurried up to her, "This one's fast, and her hair will be rainbow coloured!" A moment later and he had run to another pony, "Oooh, this one is pink and she'll be a pastry chef, whatever should we call her?" A moment later he'd crossed to a pony that recoiled in fear, "This one is so very shy and doesn't fly well, should we name her Twilight? No? Whyever not?"

Rainbow started to back up, a worried grimace creeping over her face, "No...it's just a coincidence..."

Discord left the other ponies and began advancing on Rainbow, forcing her to back up into a wall as he spoke, "Of course not, if you were products you'd be labeled for sale. Maybe someone would put a nice stamp on your rump to let everypony know what function they served."

"Shut up!" Rainbow demanded, staggering around him, her vision quickly filling with tears, "The other world was good, we were happy!"

Rainbow, flinched as she felt Discord draw in close behind her, speaking more quietly "Is a happy place a good place Rainbow? Is happiness good even if you didn't choose it?"

Rainbow grit her teeth and closed her eyes, trying to block out his lies, "We always choose if we get to be happy or sad. No one can change that!"

"Liar." The room fell silent as Derpy stepped forward in her Starsoul plate, glaring angrily at Celestia. "You liar! You're the reason I never felt bad about my father's death. How-how dare you!"

Rainbow shook the tears from her eyes as she stepped towards Derpy hesitantly, her voice wavering "Don't listen to Discord Derpy, we'll just go-"

"No!" Derpy cut her off mid-sentence, "You need to know what she's done." Derpy half turned her head to Discord, "Does Rainbow have all of Celestia's powers?" Discord nodded with a sly grin, "Rainbow, focus on me, focus on my mind and how I'm feeling. Can you feel it?"

Rainbow looked about awkwardly as Twilight stepped forward, "Girls..."

"Shut up Twilight!" Derpy yelled, brandishing a blade at the mage, "Can. You. Feel. It?" Derpy's eyes blazed with fury, staring directly at Rainbow.

With a cautious swallow Rainbow focused. Instinctively the new surging wave of power locked onto Derpy and the floodgates of rage flooded into her mind. Rainbow started to get angry, not at Derpy exactly, but angry at nothing in particular. Why? Why was there all this anger all of a sudden?

"Pick an emotion and push back!" Derpy ordered.

Instinctively Rainbow fought against the pain and fury, picking out the feeling from the first day she’d met the wonderbolts. With that thought coursing through her she focused on Derpy and flung her full power behind it. The torrent of rage was hammered backward with a massive invisible wall that caused Rainbow to jerk back in alarm.

The sword fell the ground with a loud clatter as Derpy sat down, a smile overtaking her face, "You know...I changed my mind Rainbow. It's probably a good thing Celestia made me happy. I could have been sad I was a mailpony!"

Rainbow let go, stumbling back in horror, "What...what was that?" she asked, her voice shaking. She turned her gaze to Discord, then to Celestia, who turned away. “What the hell was that?” she yelled a second time.

"That's the power of the Starsoul Knights." Derpy said, her voice growing cold as her smile faded, "She never disbanded them, they just got quieter about what they were doing." Derpy started to curl up on the floor, tears forming in her eyes collapsing into a whimpering pile on the floor from Rainbow’s stray thought "Oh goddess, you're so strong...I feel so...empty...take me back, don’t leave me here...Please.”

Affectionately Rainbow reached out with her mind once more, filling Derpy with emotion and scaling it back a bit. She didn't want to control the poor girl, but she knew she'd accidentally hurt her friend. She had to do something to ease her pain. Was this how Celestia saw them? As children that could be wounded by being too rough with them?

"This isn't real Derpy." Rainbow comforted, putting a massive wing around the crying pony on the floor, "The Starsoul Knights are just a game, just part of a game, like everything here is."

Discord let out a chuckle, "This isn’t just a game my queen. This is how things were before Celestia brought order. Before everything I stood for crumbled and died. She wanted to hide it, that’s why she stopped the game from being played."

Rainbow turned her gaze to Celestia, "Princess? Is it true?"

Celestia grit her teeth in defiance for a moment, then finally answered, "Discord was war and death my little pony. You don’t understand what ponies were capable of before I helped them. That game could ruin everything."

Rainbow's eyes widened as her anger started to build, "Ruin?" She demanded, “It was a game, if you didn’t do anything wrong why would you hide it?”

Celestia let out an irritated puff of air through her nostrils, "You couldn't understand. The world was bad back then, without someone to show ponies how to grow up and be good they did things, terrible things" So that was it then, she saw herself as the only adult in a world of children.

"Well..." Discord said, "I think I gave a pretty good idea."

Rainbow looked hopelessly to her friends who stared back in pleading horror, then to Discord. "I won't let you win Discord..."

Discord laughed in her face, then wiped a tear from his eye, "Win? You think this is a game you can win? I'm chaos incarnate kid, I won before we started. Despite all you think of me, I don't care what you do. You can choose to kill Celestia, you could choose to imprison her, you could choose to talk to her, or you could make everything go back to Celesta's domain. It doesn't matter, all I ever wanted from the very beginning was for you to make a choice, any choice. To stop following the path in front of you simply because it's the one you were on." he reached down putting his still closed fists in front of her. "When you started this game everyone took the role they were told to take. Everyone was happy to do as they were told. Some of them changed their minds once I showed them choice, but you made a choice of your own just by seeing a game where it was possible. So here it is, you've been a monk and a barbarian, a bastion of order and of chaos, inside you and you alone is the ability to see that there are benefits to two completely different schools of thought. So what'll it be Rainbow? You're at the end, the pawn in the eighth row. There's one move left. But this time it's the pawn and not the player that gets to make...the choice." His fingers uncurled, turning to stone as he revealed to Rainbow two chess pieces. A black queen, and a white knight.

Celestia struggled as Rarity cut yet another strap loose, freeing her second wing, "It's over Rainbow Dash." Celestia said calmly. "Discord's power has left him and he has become as he was in our world. All you need to do is release his power and we can finally go home."

Rainbow hesitated for a moment, then the tiny horse figurine drifted off of Discord’s stony claw. Rainbow looked at it somberly, a look of grim resolve crossing her face as she stepped towards Celestia. In the end, they were her friends, they were her whole world. How could she choose a world where she could be alone over a world where she'd be happy with friends? In the end, it was a big price to pay. Truth and freedom were powerful, but what was freedom if it only brought you sadness?

There was a clank from behind her that caused Rainbow to stop, turning her head slightly to watch the pony knight lower into an elegant bow. "I swear my allegiance to you, my queen."

Celestia gave her a warm motherly smile, "Of course Derpy. We all make-"

"Not you, you bitch." Tarrow said venomously, "I Tarrow Starsoul, for as long as I draw breath, swear my undying allegiance to my Prismatic Queen, Rainbow Dash. From now until I no longer have a choice."

As her friends turned to ridicule and pity Tarrow for her words Rainbow Dash froze. This wasn't about her. When Pinkie had faced this test this is where she turned to Celestia and returned home. To Celestia's world where everyone was her friend. It didn't matter how much the rest of the world liked what Discord had done. There wasn't a poll or a vote for them. They didn't get a choice. Celestia had given Pinkie an ultimatum that day, her friendship, or the world. Rainbow was an element of harmony. The last line of defense for all ponykind...against all threats. In whatever form they took, whatever the cost.

The chess piece exploded in the air as Rainbow's eyes narrowed, "I choose the world." With a ripple of energy Celestia was picked up off the ground and hurled violently into a stone wall, "You used us!" Rainbow yelled over the thunderous sound of shattering glass and cracking rocks, "You were given all the power in the world and you enslaved us!"

As Celestia landed she pulled harshly at the collar in a panic. Before she could react Rainbow wrapped her in telekinetic force, slamming her back against the wall and pinning her legs back.

"Stop it!" Twilight yelled, letting loose a magic missile at Rainbow's back. With a thought the missile was torn to shreds and dissipated. The ocean of power Rainbow felt rippling beneath her skin was powerful, Twilight’s attacks were little more than raindrops, shrugged off without more than a desire not to be hit with them.

For a moment Rainbow turned, looking to her friends as they assembled, now readying to fight her. Their faces were a contorted blend of confusion and anger. To them she’d been corrupted, a casualty to Discord’s manipulations. As much as this choice pained her, she still loved her friends, she always had...she always would, even if they wouldn’t take her back after she did what she had to do. Rainbow raised her forelegs, lifting each of her panicked friends into the air. Each of them twitched helplessly as they struggled. Grimly she turned her attention back to Celestia. "I can't let you enslave the world again...I’m sorry."

Rainbow inched forward as a blade floated off the table and over to her side, pointing down into the princess. Rainbow steeled herself, gritting her teeth as she began to cry, “I promise I’ll make it as painless as I can.” she said, drawing back the blade.

"Wait Rainbow!" Celestia pleaded, "Discord’s had his say, you’ve seen what I’ve done...But if you’re going to put me on trial and have me executed, don’t I at least get to speak in my defence?”

The blade stopped, wriggling in Rainbow’s grasp as her will waivered.

Celestia nodded quietly, “I get at least that much, don’t I?”

Carefully Rainbow released her, letting hooves fall back against the floor.

“Thank you Rainbow.” She said, carefully standing up, flashing her a glance, “You really think me so evil I deserve to die?”

Rainbow took a few steps back, “You kept a secret organization of ponies to make us think the way you wanted. Somehow changed our bodies and names to fit your vision of what the world would be. We’re slaves Celestia...”

“That’s not it at all.” Celesita argued, shaking her head as she moved toward Rainbow’s friends. “I was given a gift, a wonderful gift in a terrible world. When I got power I used it to make the rest of the world a wonderful place. I Just wanted to make everypony’s life better.”

“Better?” Rainbow asked, closing in with an incredulous look, “Can it even be considered living the way we do it? Can something be living if it doesn’t make any choices? Our paths determined at birth, our emotions regulated to acceptable standards?”

“No!” Celestia insisted, turning about, “This wasn’t my choice. When I started I united kingdoms, gave everypony safety, food, homes. I put an end to war and made communities safe.”

Rainbow hesitated. That seemed right - that was the world Discord had forced them to live in. One where Celestia was creating a stable kingdom, “What happened?” she asked.

“Things got better.” Celestia shrugged, “Some years there would be droughts, or hurricanes. Ponies died, they suffered. They would turn to me and say: ’You have power Celestia, you could stop this.’” She gave a small smile, looking out one of the shattered windows, “So I did. I found a way to make the weather do what I wanted.”

Rainbow shook her head, “That has nothing to do with anything!”

“It does, Rainbow.” Celestia seemed distant as she talked about the past, “After the weather was fixed ponies got it in their head I could do anything. Some of them had harder jobs than others, they too said: ‘You have power Celestia, you could fix this.’ So I did, I worked tirelessly to make this world a paradise.” Celestia sat as Rainbow lowered her friends to the ground, “The world blossomed with more food than anyone could eat, ponies lived in luxury under my careful care.”

Rainbow snorted, “How come Applejack’s gotta work so hard all the time then?” She made a gesture towards the angry orange pony.

“It didn’t last.” Celestia said sadly, “The ponies became depressed, they said their lives had no purpose. Sometimes they killed themselves, some of them turned on each other over the pettiest issues. They had no idea what they wanted but they were miserable, they said I had the power to do anything, couldn’t I make a world where they were happy?” Celestia’s head sunk, “They wanted purpose, so I gave it to them. I love them all Rainbow, they wanted goals, so I changed it again. I gave everypony a purpose, a job.”

“Why can’t you let them choose their own job?” Rainbow demanded, sitting next Celestia, the fury from her voice fading with each passing question.

“I did!” Celestia insisted, “...but ponies would pick jobs and be miserable about them later in life. They would become stressed and regretful, they struggled. So I made it easier. I found a way to find out what jobs would make them the happiest in life so they wouldn’t have regrets. I gave them cutie marks so they would always be certain this was the happiest path for them.”

“So...” Rainbow turned her head, looking down at her bare flank, a portent of her future.

“Yes.” Celestia said assuringly, “You would have always been happiest as the fastest pony you knew. It makes you special, but every pony wants to feel that special Rainbow. Every pony takes pride in being special.

Rainbow shook her head, “You messed with our emotions.”

Celestia nodded, “There was still crime, and ponies wanted me to fix it. It wasn’t much of a change, the starsoul knights brought communities together, they acted as leaders and confidants. They listened to people’s problems and helped them to work through their emotional struggles.”

Rainbow shifted uncomfortably, “It’s not okay Celestia. Life is supposed to come with these problems. The issues we have, working through them makes us who we are.”

With a raised eyebrow the white alicorn looked her over, “If you’re a good pony and you see someone suffering, you help them.” She looked back to Derpy, “You don’t leave them lying on the ground crying.”

With a start Rainbow’s cheeks flushed, she’d forgotten to stop filling Derpy with emotions. The young knight sat patiently, pointedly not looking at Rainbow’s other friends.

“You didn’t do anything wrong Rainbow.” Celestia assured her, standing up to look at the others, “You saw a pony in pain and you had the power to help them.”

Rainbow shook her head slowly, “I’m the one that hurt her...”

With a smile Celestia brushed a cheek against Rainbow, “And if somepony else had hurt her? Would it be so easy to tell your friends to deal with problems you had the power to solve?” She took a few steps toward Derpy, who recoiled and brought up her blade. “Derpy, I’m sorry if you felt I was controlling you. Your father was a good pony, he wouldn’t want you to hurt. You would have gotten over that pain on your own in time, I was just trying to help.” Calmly Celestia turned back to Rainbow, sticking her chest out, “Do what you have to Rainbow, but understand where I’ve come from on this. I helped stop depression, gave ponies lives they could be happy with, turned homes that would be plagued with domestic violence to loving caring families. I help the world be what ponies have asked me to make it.”

The room grew silent as Celestia stood defiantly, waiting as Rainbow held the knife aloft, staring at the soft skin of Celestia’s chest where a blade could follow. Her heart was right there, the woman would never feel it, “I don’t know what’s right anymore.” Rainbow admitted, hanging her head.

With a nod the Princess gave a look to the ponies behind her, “I’ve been around for over a thousand years Rainbow, and I’m still trying to figure it out.”

With a sigh the blade clattered to the ground, “Whether it’s right or not,” Rainbow said, “You’re not one of the bad guys. I’ve seen bad guys. I’m not about to start killing good ponies in cold blood.” With a thought Rainbow snapped the clasp on Celestia’s collar, letting it unwrap and fall to the ground.

“You made the right choice Rainbow Dash.” Celestia said, taking a step forward, “After we set everything right-”

“No.” The Prismatic Queen cut her off, “Things aren’t going back to the way they were.”

Celestia frowned, looking back to Rainbow’s friends, “You can go back to your life, back to your friends.”

Rainbow gave a bitter laugh, looking with despair on the group around the princess, “There’s no going back Celestia. I’m not going to live in a world where one pony has absolute power over everypony. Somepony has to stop you from going too far.”

“There will be war.” Celestia insisted.

“Let there will be war.”

“Innocent ponies will die.”Celestia tried again.

“But first, they will live.”

Pinkie stepped up, her features wracked with grief. She perhaps was the only other pony here who understood exactly how much this choice was crushing Rainbow inside, “You don’t have to do this.” She whispered, throwing her forehooves around Rainbow’s neck.

Rainbow grit her teeth, a sharp pain pounding into her chest as she finally pushed the pink mare away, “Somepony has to.” With that she turned about, marching to the throne as she pulled the queen out of Discord’s hand. “Celestia...you have my answer, now get out of my kingdom.”

Comments

[Scurvy]

A bit of a break, and I remember that I had no idea where it was going to go after the previous chapter. Interesting choice I must say. It does raise the question, is Luna Celestia's imaginary friend made manifest? Regardless, all hail the return of the Prismatic Queen, long may she reign.